It was Destiny
by Phoenix Rises
Summary: What if Gordie never existed, and instead, there was Georgiana Lachance? What if she wrote about the tumultuous journey to find Ray Brower? Read on to find out... HEY GUYS I CHANGED CHAPTER TWO SLIGHTLY SO IT CAN SUIT THE STORY I PLANNED! ENJOY!
1. Destiny Lost

It was a hot, sunny day. I sat in my empty car, with a newspaper clipping on my lap, staring at the top of the black, worn steering wheel. I knew I couldn't avoid the heading on the newspaper clipping any longer. With a short sigh, I glanced down at the clipping that read:

**"Attorney Christopher Chambers Fatally Stabbed In Restaurant."**

The emotions I knew should have been expected consumed me, threatening to overwhelm me. A single tear dropped from my eye as I looked at the silver band on my left hand, inscribed with the engraving "_Georgiana Chambers_" around the outside. A few more tears slid down my cheeks as I thought about the love of my life and my best friend, my destiny lost. Since his accidental death a day ago, my normal, happy life had been turned upside down. I had known Chris my entire life, and now that he was gone, it was hard for me to imagine living life, knowing that he would no longer be there to support me ever again, as he had always done.

Suddenly, the sound of bicycle bells brought me out of my reverie. Two boys, about the age of twelve or thirteen, rode past my open window and onto the open road. Looking at the boy's retreating backs, my thoughts drifted back to that summer that Chris and I shared, with our two other friends, which only made us closer, and shaped our future together….


	2. The Gang

I was sixteen going on seventeen the first time I saw a dead human being. It happened in the summer of 1959, a long time ago, but only if you measure it in terms of years.

I was living in a small town in Oregon called Castle Rock. There were only 1281 people, but to me, it was the whole world.

This particular morning I was sitting in the tree house playing 'Thirty' with Chris and Teddy. None of us could have anticipated that very soon, we would be on the journey of our lives.

Drawing a card, Chris looked up and asked us, "Hey, how do you know a Frenchmen's been in your backyard?"

"Hey, I'm French, ok?" Teddy replied.

"Your garbage cans are empty and your dog's pregnant," Chris concluded, taking no notice of Teddy's defense of his heritage. Immediately, he looked at me and we burst into laughter.

"Didn't I just say I was French?" Teddy wondered aloud.

Again, ignoring Teddy's comment, Chris rapped his knuckles on the small wooden table. "I knock."

"Shit!" Teddy whispered.

"29," Chris smirked over the table.

"22," Teddy sighed, admitting defeat.

"Oh, piss up a rope!" I threw my deck on the table, sending Teddy and Chris into hysterics. I picked an old magazine from the ledge behind me and ignored them.

"Georgie's out! Ol' Georgie just spit the bag and stepped out the door!" Teddy exclaimed, continuing to laugh his unusually creepy hyena laugh.

"Come on man, deal," Chris said to Teddy, clearly bored with teasing me. Teddy just blew a smoke ring at Chris and smirked.

Teddy Duchamp was the craziest kid we hung around with. He didn't have much of a chance in life. His dad was given to fits of rage. One time, he held Teddy's ear to a stove and almost burned it off.

Teddy rapped the table twice. "I knock."

Chris looked at him accusatorily. "You four-eyed pile of shit!"

"A pile of shit has a thousand eyes," Teddy countered.

Chris and I looked at each other again and laughed. Seriously, the things Teddy came out with were just crazy.

"What! What's so funny? Come on, I've got thirty! What have you got?" Teddy demanded.

Still chuckling, Chris managed to say, "16."

"Go ahead, keep laughing. You're down to your last ride, pal," Teddy challenged Chris as Chris dealt the cards again.

Chris Chambers was the leader of our gang and my best friend. He came from a bad family and everyone just knew he'd turn out bad. Including Chris.

Suddenly, there was a knock from below. Chris sighed, moved the table and opened the trapdoor. Our other friend, Vern Tessio emerged, clearly excited.

"Oh, man! You guys are not gonna believe this!" Vern panted, as he climbed through the door. "This is so boss! Oh, man, wait 'til you hear this! Wait 'til you hear this! You won't believe it! It's unbelievable! Let me catch my breath…I ran all the way from my house."

Chris, with a gleam in his eye, turned to me and Teddy and burst into song, "I ran all the way ho-ome! Just to say I'm sor-ry!" Teddy and I happily joined in. We could vaguely hear Vern saying, "C'mon guys! C'mon!" Then, "Okay, forget it. I don't have to tell you nothing."

Chris silenced us, and in mock concern he asked, "Hold on, guys, hold on. What is it Vern?"

"Okay, great, you won't believe this, sincerely-"

Once again, "I ran all the wa-ay ho-ome!"

"Screw you guys!" Vern huffed.

"All right. What is it?" Chris smirked.

"Can you guys camp out tonight? I mean, if you tell your folks you're gonna tent out in my back field?"

"Yeah, I think so," Chris replied, dealing another round. "'Cept my dad's kinda on the mean streak. You know, he's been drinking a lot lately." He said this as if it didn't bother him, but I only knew that it secretly did.

"You've got to man! Sincerely! You won't believe this! Can you, Georgie?"

"Yeah, probably," I answered, absentmindedly, still absorbed in my magazine.

"So what are you pissin' and moanin' about, Vern-O?" Teddy asked, frustrated.

Then, Chris announced, "I knock."

"You liar! You ain't got no pad hand!" Teddy accused in response to Chris' laughter. "You didn't deal yourself no pad hand!"

"Make your draw, shit heap," Chris challenged, laughing as he looked at Vern.

Suddenly, I heard Vern's voice break through my attention. "You guys wanna go see a dead body?" He had my attention. Apparently, he had Chris and Teddy's, too.

I slowly put the magazine back on the ledge, felt Chris' eyes upon me, and listened to Vern's speech. "Well, I was under the porch diggin', you know…"

We all understood what Verb meant right away. At the beginning of the school year, he buried a jar of pennies underneath his house. He drew a treasure map so he could find them again. A week later, his mum cleaned out his room and threw away the map. He had been trying to find those pennies for nine months. Nine months, man. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Anyway, we listened as Vern told us how he overheard his brother, Billy and Billy's friend, Charlie Hogan who were both members of the town gang, The Cobras, talking about a dead kid named Ray Brower that they had found way out on Back Harlow Road and their indecision about whether or not to say anything to the cops or not. They decided not so say anything, purely because of a stolen car that they had boosted. They had enough brains to know they would get busted for it.

As Vern finished his story, we were all awe-struck. I mean, who wouldn't be at that age? It was the promise of adventure.

"I know the Back Harlow Road," Teddy exclaimed. "It comes through a dead end by the Royal River. The train tracks are right there! Me and my dad used to fish for Cossies out there!"

"Jesus Christ, man! If they would've have known you were under there, they would've killed you!" Chris said to Vern.

Suddenly, I had a random thought. "Could he have gotten all the way from Chamberlain to Harlow? It's really far," I asked, scratching my chin.

"Sure," Chris answered me. "He must have started walking on the train tracks and followed them the whole way."

"Yeah, yeah right," Teddy agreed. "And then after dark, a train must have come along-el smacko!" He punched his fist into his hand, imitating a hit.

"Yeah…"Chris trailed off, amazed. We were all briefly lost in our own thoughts, until Chris had an idea.

"Hey. Hey, you guys. I bet you anything that if we find him, we'll get our pictures in the paper."

"Yeah, yeah, we could even be on T.V!" Teddy exclaimed.

"Sure!" Chris agreed.

"We could be heroes!"

"Yeah!" Chris exclaimed again.

Vern looked reluctant. "I don't know. Billy will know I found out."

"He's not gonna care," I told him, "'cause it's gonna be us guys that find him, not Billy and Charlie Hogan and the boosted car."

When he didn't look convinced, I added, "They'll probably pin a medal on you, Vern," knowing it would suck him in.

I knew I had success when Vern lit up and said, "Yeah, you think so?"

Chris looked at Vern, and then said with sarcasm that only I could pick up, "Sure!"

The Vern remembered something. "But what'll we tell our folks?"

"Exactly what you said," I replied. Looking at Chris and Teddy, I said, "We'll all tell our folks we're tenting out in your back field," then pointing at Vern, I continued, "you tell your folks you're sleeping over at Teddy's. Then we say we're going over to the drag races the next day. We're rock solid until dinner tomorrow night," I concluded.

Chris nodded, impressed. "Man, that's a plan and a half." We skinned it, which was Chris' widely known trademark in our group.

'But if we do find that kid's body over in South Harlow, they'll know we didn't go to the drag races. We'll get hided!" Vern argued.

Reaching over to Vern, Teddy said, "Nobody will care! 'Cause everybody's gonna be so jazzed about what we found, it's not gonna make a difference!"

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "Well, my dad'll hide me anyway, but hell, it's worth a hiding!"

"Shit yeah!" Teddy exclaimed.

"Let's do it!" Chris decided, excitement in his blue eyes. "What'd you say?"

"Alright!" Teddy relied,

Chris looked at me. "Georgie?"

"Sure," I smiled.

Looking at Vern, Chris asked, "Vern?"

"I don't know…"

"Vern," Chris goaded.

"C'mon, Vern-O!" Teddy joined.

"Vern!" Chris continued. Then he pounced, grabbing Vern and wrapping his head in a headlock, and rubbing his knuckles on Vern's cropped hair, in a fashion typically associated with a "noogie". Teddy, wanting to join in on the fun, began by pinching Vern's chubby cheeks.

"Vern! C'mon, Vern-O!" They chorused together. I smirked, watching the boys wrestle. This sort of thing happened every day with Chris and Teddy. It's what I loved about them.

"Okay, okay," Vern conceded, which sent Teddy into whoops of "Cool! Real cool! Very cool! Very, very cool!" and Chris into a series of "Whoo"s and punches of the air. I rolled my eyes at the two. If we were going to see a dead body, maybe it should not have been a party…


	3. The Invisible Daughter

I wanted to share my friend's enthusiasm, but I couldn't. That summer, at home, I had become the invisible daughter.

After one more round of 'Thirty', we all headed home to prepare for our trip to find Ray Brower. After pointlessly searching for my canteen, I leaned out my window to see my dad weeding and my mum removing washing from the clothes line.

I called out to her, asking her if she knew where my canteen was, but she was lost in her thoughts, too far off to hear me. I guess I really shouldn't have been surprised. Dad finally answered, "It's in Denny's room."

"Oh." I uttered. In April, my older brother Denis had been killed in a Jeep accident. Four months had past, but my parents still hadn't been able to put the pieces back together again.

Slowly opening the door to my brother's room, I was reluctant to enter. Memories came flooding back to my mind and they were too painful for me to remember. Denny was a star at Castle Rock High. There were football pictures of him on the wall, pictures of his graduation and his prom. I opened his closet and found the canteen I had been searching for. Memories continued to hit me. One in particular I relived in my mind…

"_Hey Georgie. I got something for ya," my 18 year brother announced. He picked up a black New York Yankees hat and sat back on the bed next to me. "This, my friend, is for you," he said, placing the cap on my head._

_I pulled it off and looked at in disbelief._

"_Hey, this is your Yankee cap," I replied, looking up at him, confused._

"_No, no," Denny disagreed. "This is your Yankee cap." With that he placed it back on top of my head. _

"_It's a good luck cap. If you wear that cap, do you know how many fish we're gonna catch?" he asked me._

"_How much?" I smiled._

"_A bazillion. A bazillion fish," he revealed, glancing up at the cap. "And it looks good on ya, too see, just like that," he joked, pulling the cap over my eyes. _

"_Oh, no, I'm going blind!" I exclaimed, imitating a popular character we both loved._

"_Hey, don't mess with me, porcupine!" he imitated, too, playing along. "Come here. Come here, give me a hug," he said, encasing me in his arms…_

"You found it." A droning voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Huh," I started, turning my head to see my father standing in the doorway.

"You found it," he repeated.

"Yeah," I replied docilely. With that I walked out of the room and heard my dad close Denny's door behind me.

"Why can't you have friends like Denny's?"

His question pulled me to a stop. With a small sigh, I turned to face him.

"Dad, they're ok."

"Sure they are. A thief and two thieves."

With the remark he had made about Chris, I felt a small surge anger, but I didn't let it show.

"Chris isn't a thief."

"He stole the milk money at school. That's a thief in my books." With that, he turned and left. With another sigh, I turned and retreated to my room, ready to be away from here.

*~*

I was walking along Main Street later, thinking about Denny and how much I missed him. Things hadn't been the same since he was gone. Sure, I was invisible when he was alive, but I was even more invisible now. It seemed that I should've blamed him for the way my parents treated me, but I couldn't. I loved him too much. He was the only person who cared for me.

Just then, Chris turned up on the back of a pick-up truck. "Right here's cool!" he yelled to the driver. The driver pulled over and Chris grabbed his sleeping bag and jumped off the truck.

"Hey, Chris," I said quietly.

Chris thanked the driver, and then turned to me. "Georgie!"

"Hey, man," I said quietly again, as he slung his arm over my shoulder.

"You wanna see something?"

"Sure, what?" I replied.

He noticed my unusual quietness. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I forced a smile. I don't think he was convinced, but he knew better than to push the issue.

Come on, man!" he said, and sprinted around the back of the local diner.

"What is it?" I asked, following suit. He had my attention.

He looked around, as if to check no one was watching.

"Come on, man! What is it?" I cried, impatiently.

Chris reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out a handgun.

"You wanna be the Lone Ranger or the Cisco Kid?" he asked, clearly happy with my awestruck attitude. Ho obliged to my outstretched hand, pushing the gun into my eager palm.

"Walkin' talkin' Jesus, where'd you get this?"

"Hawked it from my old man's bureau. It's a .45," he said offhandedly, watching as I pretended to cock the gun.

I looked at him, insulted that he assumed I wouldn't know what make it was. "I can see that."

Continuing to play shoot the gun, I asked, "You got shells for it?"

"Yeah, I took all that was left from the box. My dad'll think that he used them himself, shooting them beer cans while he was drunk," he smirked, clearly pleased with himself.

"Is it loaded?"

Outraged, Chris replied, "Hell no! What'd you think I am?"

I figured there was no harm in pulling the trigger, so I did. BOOM!!! A huge gunshot sound came from the gun and I felt myself stagger a bit at the force of the bullet that was know imbedded in the garbage can in front of us.

"JESUS!!!!" Chris and I yelled. I took off running as fast I could, with Chris on my heels, laughing, and yelling, "Georgie did it! Georgie Lachance is shooting up Castle Rock!"

"Shut up!" I yelled at him.

A waitress stormed out the back entrance of the diner, angry. "Hey who did that? Who's letting cherry bombs off out here?"

Rounding the corner and feeling that it was safe enough to stop fleeing, I slowed to a walk. Chris' laughter rung in my ears as he rounded the corner and caught up with me.

"Oh, man, you should've seen your face! Damn, that was cool! That was really fine!"

"You knew it was loaded, you redhead!" I yelled at him, not caring if people overheard. 'I'm gonna be in trouble now. That cupper babe saw me!"

"Shit, Georgie! She thought it was fire crackers!"

"I don't care! That was a mean trick, Chris!"

"Hey, Georgie," he said, urgently, grabbing my shoulders and turning me to face him. He looked sincerely sorry. There was no trace of sarcasm. He knew where to draw the line with me.

"I didn't know it was loaded. Honest."

"You swear?"

"Yeah, I swear,"

"On your mother's name?"

"Yeah," Chris replied a little impatiently.

"Even if she goes to hell, 'cause you lied?" I continued.

"Yeah, I swear!"

"Pinkie swear?" I asked, holding up my pinkie finger.

Chris sighed. "Pinkie swear," he replied softly as he crossed his chest, kissed his pinkie and held it in the air, similar to mine. I decided that I was satisfied.

After he clapped my shoulder, Chris and I continued down past the shops, when a door in front of us opened. Chris' older brother, Eyeball Chambers and his mate, Ace Merrill who was the leader of the Cobras with Eyeball as his second in command, stepped out of the local pool hall. When they spotted us I knew there would be trouble. Chris and I never got along with Ace and Eyeball.

Chris and I continued to walk past them, but Eyeball called, "Hey, girls, where are you goin'?" and Ace pulled my brother's Yankee cap off my head.

"Hey, come on man, my brother gave me that!" I cried, trying to get the cap out of his hand.

"Well, now you're givin' it to me," he countered, constantly moving it out of my grasp.

"Give it to me! Come on man! That's mine!"

"You're a real asshole, you know that?" Chris spat at Ace.

Ace looked at Chris with great dislike. Handing my cap to Eyeball (who proceeded to put it on his head, backwards) he said, "You're brother's not very polite, Eyeball."

"Now, Christopher. I know you didn't mean to insult my friend," Eyeball taunted Chris.

"I know he didn't mean to insult me. That's why I'm gonna give him the opportunity of taking it back."

I waited anxiously on the sidelines. Chris never liked me getting involved in a fight with Ace, for fear of me getting hurt, so I refrained from attempting to stop Ace. I hoped that Chris would stand down. I didn't want anything to happen to my best friend and I knew that Ace was one of those people who was more than willing to go beyond far to get the results that he wanted.

Suddenly, he grabbed Chris with two hands and pushed his head onto the concrete. I could hear Chris muttering, "Oh shit! Shit!" under his breath. I wanted to help but I didn't know how.

"Take it back!" Ace said angrily in Chris' ear. I screamed, "Stop it man! You're hurting him!" and Chris cried, "Bastard! Let go of me!" When Ace didn't get the answer he wanted, he picked up his discarded cigarette and threateningly moved it closer to Chris' eye. "Take it back!" he repeated venomously.

Finally, "Okay, okay. I take it back, I take it back!"

Satisfied, Ace pulled Chris up off the ground and Chris moved instinctively to my side. Ace maliciously said into Chris' face, "There. Now I feel a whole lot better about this. How about you?" Chris and I just glared at him.

Smirking, he replied, "Good." He clapped the side of my face and turned and stalked off in the direction that we had come.

Eyeball grinned and mockingly said, "See ya later, girls." Then he turned and followed Ace, my cap still perched on his head.

I stared daggers at their backs, wishing I could kill Ace. For taking the cap. For taking my momento and memory of my brother. For hurting Chris.

Chris had turned to continue walking, but when I didn't follow, he turned back to me. Placing a hand on my shoulder, he said softy. "Come on, just forget about them."

We walked down the street, with his arm still around my shoulders. Then to lighten the mood, he twisted his leg and playfully kicked my butt. I looked at him, smirked, and returned the favour.


	4. Skin It

Later when we reached the train tracks leading out of town. Chris had told Teddy and Vern about the .45.

"Well, what do we need a pistol for anyway?" Vern asked.

"It's spooky, camping out at night in the woods. You might see a bear-or a garbage can," Chris remarked, mischievously looking at me. I glared at him playfully as I heard Teddy chuckle.

Suddenly, Vern held up a new, white object. "I bought a comb."

Chris looked at him in confusion. "What do we need a comb for?"

"Well, if we get on T.V., we wanna look good, don't we?" Vern answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's a lot of thinking, Vern," I remarked.

"Thanks."

Teddy made a sharp movement towards Vern, causing him to flinch. "Two for flinching," he said nastily, punching him twice in the arm.

We all looked at the tracks leading into the distance ahead of us. Chris looked frustrated, calculating.

Teddy was the first to speak. "How far do you think it's gonna be?" he questioned to no one in particular.

Chris answered him. "If we follow the tracks all the way into Harlow, it'd be about 20 miles. Sound about right to you, Georgie?" he asked me.

"Yeah, yeah. It might even be 30…" I answered.

Vern looked worried. "Hey, maybe we should just hitch hike?"

We all turned to look at him like he was crazy. Then Chris, Teddy and I started down the tracks.

"No way. That sucks!" Teddy answered.

"Why not?" Vern asked, exasperated. "We could go out on seven to the Shiloh Church, and down the Back Harlow Road. We'd be there by sundown."

"That's pussy!" Teddy replied.

"Hey, it's a long way!"

Teddy turned to look at Vern. "Did your mother ever have any kids that lived?" he asked nastily.

That comment was completely lost on Vern. "What do you mean?"

Shaking his head, Teddy muttered, "Jesus," under his breath, and continued to follow Chris and I, who were just up ahead of them.

*~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~* *~*

Later, out in the open country, and still on the tracks, we entertained ourselves with a song we all loved. We sang in time with each other, but the loudest was Chris, who always put more effort into this song than the rest of us.

"We'll stop off at the junkyard," I told Chris. "My dad says it's a safe bet."

"Not if Chopper's there," Vern reminded us.

"If Chopper's there, we'll send YOU in," Chris remarked.

"Ha-ha, very funny."

A few seconds later, Vern's voice sounded again. "Hey, I'm kinda hungry. Who's got the food?"

"Shit!" Teddy groaned. We all stopped dead and looked at each other. "Did anybody bring anything?"

"Not me," Chris answered. "Georgie?" he asked looking at me hopefully.

I shook my head.

"Oh. Oh this is great!" Teddy said sarcastically. "What are we supposed to do? Eat our feet?"

"You mean you didn't bring anything either," Chris accused.

"Well shit, this wasn't my idea," he remarked, as Chris kicked the ground in anger, "it was Vern's. Why didn't you bring something?" he rounded on Vern.

"What am I supposed to do? Think of everything? I bought the comb."

"Oh, great, you bought the comb! What'd you need a comb for? You don't even have any hair!"

"I got it for you guys, god damn it!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" I intervened, holding Teddy and Vern apart.

"Let's see how much money we got," I reasoned calmly.

We all sat down on the tracks. I held out my hand for their money.

"I got a $1.02. 68 cents from Chris. 60 cents from Teddy," I commented, pleased, until Vern handed over what little he had.

"7 cents, Vern?" I asked in disbelief looking over at him.

"I haven't found my pennies yet," he shrugged.

Counting the money, I conclude, "Well, $2.37's not bad. Quidachalo's is on that little road that goes by the junkyard. I think we can get some stuff there."

Getting up, Chris said, "Train's comin'" and sure enough, there was a train in the distance.

We all got up off the tracks and moved over onto the grass. All of us, that is, except for Teddy, who was facing the oncoming train.

"Come on, Teddy!" I called, but he ignored me.

"No. Uh-uh. I'm gonna dodge it," he replied, throwing his pack to us.

"Come on Teddy, man. Get off the tracks. You're crazy!" Chris commanded, looking extremely nervous as he glanced between Teddy and the oncoming train.

"Train dodge. Dig it." Teddy trailed off, staring at the train.

"Get the hell off the tracks, Teddy! You wanna get yourself killed!" Chris yelled at him.

Still, Teddy ignored us. "Just like the beach at Normandy," he muttered, and then imitated a machine gun in a bloody battle. And still, that train moved ever so closer, making Chris, Vern and I more nervous.

Deciding enough was enough, Chris threw down his bag and ran onto the tracks. Grabbing Teddy, he struggled to pull him off the tracks. Thankfully, he managed to seconds before the train passed the exact spot where Teddy had just been standing.

Teddy was not happy.

I sprung forward, grabbing Chris' shoulders as he and Teddy tried to lay into each other. Chris was screaming something at Teddy, but his words were lost amid the passing train. Nevertheless, Teddy, restrained by Vern, struggled to get his hands on Chris.

When I thought it was safe enough to let go of Chris, I let my hands drop. Everyone could hear Chris' every word, now the train had passed.

"I'm just trying to save your life!" he bellowed. "You wanna kill yourself! Is that what you want, god damn it! You're trying to kill yourself!"

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever, Teddy angrily, and Chris, expectant.

Finally, Teddy said icily, "I don't need no babysitter."

"You do too." Chris remarked.

After a moment, Chris held out his hand to Teddy. "Skin it," he stated.

But Teddy shook his head. "I could have dodged it."

He picked up his pack, and started to walk away. But Chris determined to have peace, chased him and stopped him.

"Listen Teddy! You dodge them on the way back, man!" He held out his hand once again. "Peace. Skin it." He repeated.

After a moment, Teddy sighed and slid his palm twice along Chris'. Smiling, Chris clapped his shoulder, and then turned back to me and Vern.

Glad that that confrontation was over, we picked up our bags and continued on our way.


	5. No Trespassing!

Soon, we arrived at the junkyard. We all stared in at the hunk of metal and scrap, nobody making the first move.

"Hey, Vern. Looks like your mum's been out driving again," I quipped at random.

Vern, who was on my left, looked at me, rolled his eyes and replied, "That's so funny I forgot to laugh."

Suddenly, Teddy was throwing his pack over the fence. "Stand back men!" He then proceeded to climb up the fence. "Paratroops! Over the side!"

As Vern joined him and Chris and I threw our packs over the fence, too, I remembered that 'No Trespassing' had been enforced by Milo Pressman the junkyard man and his dog, Chopper, the most feared and least seen dog in Castle Rock. Legend had it that Milo had trained Chopper not just to sic, but to sic specific parts of the human anatomy. Thus, a kid who had illegally scale the junkyard fence might hear the dreaded cry, "Chopper! Sic balls!"

As Chris and I landed on the other side of the fence, I noticed that the dreaded Chopper or Milo was no where in sight.

As I picked up my pack and canteen, I shook my head and said, "Teddy's crazy."

Chris and I watched Teddy run through the junkyard screaming at the top of his lungs, "What's the B.A.R! Come on! Come on man!"

Chris scoffed. "Yeah. He won't live to be twenty, I bet."

I turned to him. "Remember that time you saved him in the tree?"

He nodded once as he remembered. In a low voice he replied, "You know, I have a dream about that sometimes. Except, in the dream I miss him. I just get a couple of his hairs and down he goes." He shook his head. "It's weird…" With that, we proceeded forward at a walk.

"Yeah, that is weird," I mumbled. "But you didn't miss. Chris Chambers never misses, does he?" I teased.

"Not even when you ladies leaver the seat down," he grinned. He made a ring with his index finger and thumb and spat through the center. I rolled my eyes.

Grinning, he nudged me lightly. "Hey. I'll race ya," he challenged.

Feeling playful and always up for the challenge, I faked tiredness. "Oh, I don't know…"

"Right to the pump! C'mon!" he whined.

"Ah, I'm kinda tired—GO!" I shouted, taking off in a fast sprint. All I heard in reply was, "Oh, you're a dead woman, Lachance!"

I continued to run, determined to FINALLY beat Chris. I listened to his running commentary behind me. By his voice gaining higher velocity, I suspected he was right on my heels.

"It looks like Lachance has got him this time! She's got Chambers beat! But what's this! Chambers is making his move!" he cried as he overtook me. "Lachance is fading on him! Chambers at the gate! The crowd goes wild!" he concluded. We both stopped to catch our breath, panting hard. We looked at each other, grinned, then Chris slung his arm over my shoulders and we walked to Vern and Teddy a few feet behind us.

We spent a good part of the afternoon throwing pebbles into an empty tin can, all of us in a semi-circle, Chris on my left, Vern on my right, and Teddy on Vern's right.

"Hey, you guys been watching the _Mickey Mouse Club_ lately?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah," Vern, Chris and I said in unison.

"I think Annette's tits are getting bigger," Teddy said.

"You think so?" Chris asked Teddy.

"Yeah, I think so," Teddy replied conversationally.

This was the topic of conversation I hated, but I decided to play along. "Yeah, he's right. I've been noticing lately that the A's or the E's are starting to bend around the sides," I said slyly, mostly to Chris, who ended up in a fit of laughter.

"Annette's tits are great," Vern smirked.

Teddy and Chris agreed but my response was "Ugh!"

"This was really a good time," Vern continued, looking at all of us, smiling.

"The most," Chris agreed, aiming another pebble into the tin can.

"A blast!" Teddy replied.

I pulled out my canteen and began spitting water into the tin can. Soon, Chris, Teddy and Vern were joining me. I reflected a bit, too, mainly about what Vern had said. He didn't just mean being off limits in the junkyard, or fudging on our folks, or going on a hike on the railroad tracks to Harlow. He meant those things, but it seems to me know, that it was more, and that we all knew it. Everything was there and around us. We knew exactly who we were and exactly where we were going. It was grand.

Teddy took a gulp of water, turned, and spat on Vern's face. We all laughed, the exception being Vern, of course.

"Great! Spit on the fat kid! Real good!" Vern cried in disgust, wiping his face dry. "What time is it, Georgie?"

"Ummm," I pulled out my watch from by back pocket, "it's a quarter after one."

"We better get the food. Junkyard opens at three. Chopper will be here."

"Oooh, sic balls!" Chris teased.

Teddy chuckled. "You go. You can pick us up on the way back," he said to Vern.

"I'm not going alone. We should all go."

"I'm staying right here!" Teddy decided.

"Yeah man, I'm not going!" I added.

We began to argue, but Chris intervened. "Girls, girls! Cool it. We'll flip for it."

"Okay," I conceded, reaching into my back pocket for coins. "Odd man goes?"

"That's you, Georgie. Odd as a cod!" Teddy teased.

I ignored him, and handed each of them a coin.

We all flipped and everyone was even.

"Four tails!" Vern exclaimed. "That's a goocher."

We all groaned. "Vern!"

"Let's go again!" Chris commanded.

"No man. That's a goocher," Vern continued. "It's really bad. You remember when Clint Brackett and those guys got wiped out on Weed Hill and Derm? Billy told me they were flippin' for beers, and they came up with a goocher just before they got into the car. And, BANG! They all got totaled! I don't like this man. Sincerely."

"Vern-O!" Teddy cried. "Nobody believes that crap about moons and goochers. That's baby stuff! Now, come on, flip again!"

We all flipped, except Vern.

"You gonna flip or not!" Teddy cried.

"Come on Vern! We haven't got all day!" Chris hounded.

With a heavy sigh, Vern flipped. I was the odd one out, just as Teddy had predicted.

"You lose, Georgie!" Teddy yelled, and laughed his creepy laugh.

I shook my head. I noticed Chris smirking at the expression on my face.

"Georgie loses! Georgie just screwed the pooch!" Teddy continued gleefully.

I looked up at him. "Does the word 'retarded' mean anything to you?"

His laughter stopped. "Georgie, go get the provisions, you morphadite."

"Don't call me any of your mother's pet names!" I snapped as I got up.

"What a wet end you are, Lachance," was Teddy's reply.

"Shut up!" I whirled around angrily.

"I don't shut up…" Teddy began, pointing at himself. Without even the slightest of nudges, Chris and Vern joined in on Teddy's chant.

"…I grow up. And when I look at you, I throw up!" They all made gagging noises.

"And then your mother goes around the corner and she licks it up," I countered. Two could play at that game.

"Oooh!" they all teased. Then Chris began to wrestle with Vern and Teddy. I rolled my eyes. Boys.


	6. What Do You Do?

At Quidachalo's, I bought enough ham for all of us and a few sodas. I was always quiet when I was away from the boys. My mood didn't help the attempted conversation that the clerk was throwing at me.

"Ain't you Denny Lachance sister?" he asked while collecting the meat.

I turned a little and replied, "Yes sir."

"Shame what happened to him. Bible says in the midst of life, we are in death. Did you know that?"

After a moment, he continued. "I lost a brother in Korea." He glanced up at me. "You look like your brother, Denny. People ever tell you that?"

"Sometimes," I replied quietly.

"I remember the year was all conflict. Boy, could he throw. Father, Son and bloody Jesus…"

I lost his words as I drifted into another memory of my brother…..

_We were all seated at the dining table. I quietly listened as my brother was being questioned about his next game._

"_Are there going to be any scouts at the game tomorrow?" my dad asked Denny._

"_I don't know," Denny shrugged._

"_Dad, can I have the potatoes?" I asked, but as usual, no response._

"_Are you going to see Jane after the game?" Mum asked. Once again, Denny shrugged. "I think she's a lovely girl," Mum smiled._

"_Dad, can I please have the potatoes?" I asked again. No response._

"_Dorothy, don't talk to the boy about girls!"_

"_Dad!" I said a little louder. With a small smile, Mum handed me the bowl of potatoes. I half-smiled my thanks._

"_Denny, when you're out the tomorrow—."_

"_Pop, did you read the story that Georgie wrote today? Georgie wrote a story. It was really good," Denny smiled at me encouragingly._

"_What did you write, sweetheart?" my mother asked as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat._

_Dad turned on Mum again. "You see. That's what I'm talking about…."_

"You play sport?"

"Hmmm…" I asked, arriving back in the present.

"Do you play sport?" the clerk asked again.

"No," I mumbled.

"What do you do?" he asked.

"I don't know…"

"Yeah, well your brother Denny…He sure could play football. There you go, kid. Buck and a half of ham." He handed me the wrapped packet.

Whilst giving him the money and travelling slowly back to the junkyard, I wondered what I was good for. Where was my place in this world? Where did I belong? What was my purpose?


	7. Myth vs Reality

I contemplated these thoughts as I entered the junkyard. However, I found that the boys were nowhere in sight. I looked around, puzzled. Were they playing some kind of stupid joke on me?

I looked over at the junkyard fence and saw Chris, Vern and Teddy all jumping back over the fence. I stared at them, still confused over their actions. However, I heard a voice that provided the answer.

"Hey! Hey, you kid!" I turned and saw Milo Pressman the junkyard man a few yards away. "What are you doing there?"

I panicked and ran. "You! You! Come back here!" was all I heard. "God damn it! I'll sic my dog on ya!"

I ran as fast as my legs would allow. Ran. Ran to the fence, where my friends were screaming at me in encouragement, urging me on. I didn't want to hear what Pressman said next.

"Sic 'em, boy!" OH. NO!

"AARGGHH!" I screamed, willing my legs to move faster. I heard a bark appear not far behind me. Chopper!

I finally reached the fence after what seemed like an eternity. I quickly climbed up and over the fence, jumping when I reached the top. Landing on my feet, but losing my balance due to my shaking legs, I coughed and sputtered as I tried to catch my breath. Chris, Vern and Teddy were all laughing and teasing the dog on the other side.

I turned to look at the feared Chopper and was completely taken by surprise. Chopper was a beautiful, playful Golden Retriever. Hardly the vicious persona everyone had been led to believe.

"That's Chopper?" I panted. Chopper was my first lesson in the vast difference between myth and reality.

"Come on, Choppy! Kiss my ass, Choppy!" teddy teased Chopper. Vern and Chris were crying with laughter, while I stood back, staring, feeling like quite the imbecile.

"Hey you kids! Stop teasing that dog! You hear me!" Pressman cried as he arrived at the fence. "Sonny, I'm gonna beat your ass, teasing my dog like that!" he growled at Teddy.

Unphased, Teddy replied, "I'd like to see you climb over this fence and come get me, fat ass!"

"Don't you call me that. You little tin weasel, pecker of wood, loony son."

The smile evaporated from Teddy's face, along with all our laughter.

"What did you call me?" Teddy asked, deadly quiet, glowering at Pressman. We all looked at Teddy warily, knowing how Teddy reacts when anyone insults his father.

"I know who you are," Pressman sneered. "You're Teddy Duchamp. Your dad's a loony. A loony up at the nuthouse in Toucos. He took your ear, and he put it to a stove and he burned it off."

Chris placed a restraining hand on Teddy's shoulder.

"My father stormed the beach at Normandy," Teddy replied icily.

Pressman scoffed. "He crazier than a shit house rat!" No wonder you're acting the way you are, with a loony for a father."

"You call my dad a loony again, and I'll kill you."

"Loony, loony, loony!" Pressman taunted.

Teddy snapped. "ARGH! I'M GONNA RIP YOUR HEAD OFF AND SHIT DOWN YOUR NECK!" he screamed, latching onto the fence. He tried to climb over, but Chris and I pulled on his shoulders, restraining him with all our strength.

"You come on and try it, you little slimy bastard!"

"He wants you to come over there so he can beat the piss out of you and take you to the cops!" Chris yelled at Pressman, pinning Teddy's arms behind his back. Chris, at the age of seventeen, was the oldest and strongest of our gang. He was the only one capable of successfully restraining Teddy.

"You watch your mouth, smart guy!" Let him do his own fighting!" Pressman threatened Chris.

"Sure, you only outweigh him by five hundred pounds, fat ass!" I yelled angrily.

Pressman looked at me meaningfully. "I know your name. You're Lachance. I know all you guys and all your fathers are gonna get a call from me. Except for the loony up at Toucos."

Teddy, who had calmed down, realizing it was useless to struggle against Chris' vice-grip, snapped again. Chris, who had foolishly loosened his grip, lunged forward with me to restrain him again.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"You little foul-mouthed whoremaster!"

"Son of a bitch!" Teddy screamed as Chris dragged him away from Pressman. I picked up Chris' pack and Vern picked up Teddy's and we followed them.

"Come back here!" Pressman yelled after us.

"Nobody rigs on my old man! My father stormed the beach at Normandy!" Teddy continued to scream back at Pressman. His struggles became non-existent, however, once he broke down into tears once Pressman and the junkyard were behind us.

I walked next to Teddy, feeling sorry for my friend. Nobody deserved that torment. Teddy loved his father, no matter what Mr. Duchamp had done.

Everyone walked in silence, listening to the sound of Teddy's sobs. Chris never let his arm fall from Teddy's shoulder.

"We showed him. He thought we were a bunch of pussies!" Vern said into the quietness.

"He rigged my old man," Teddy sobbed.

As I placed a comforting hand on Teddy's back, I wondered how he could care so much for his dad who practically killed him, and I couldn't care less for my own dad who hadn't laid a hand on me since I was three. And that was for eating bleach under the sink.

"He rigged my old man!" Teddy cried again, lifting his head.

"What do you care what a big, fat pile of shit like that says about your dad?" Chris asked him fiercely.

"He still stormed the beach at Normandy, right?" I added.

"Just forget it," Teddy mumbled, shaking his head in a defeated way.

"You think that pile of shit was at Normandy?" Vern questioned. "He don't know nothing about your old man. He's just dog shit!"

"Whatever is between you and your old man, he can't change that!" Chris exclaimed.

"Forget it, alright!" Teddy yelled, shrugging Chris off. "Just forget!"

After a moment, he wiped his eyes and continued walking in a sad manner. We followed still concerned.

After a few seconds of silence, Vern burst into song to try and lighten the mood. Chris and I glared at him. Taking the hint, Vern fell silent under our stares.

Teddy stopped. We all turned to look at him. He looked at us apologetically. "I'm sorry if I'm spoiling everybody's good time," he mumbled.

Chris clapped his shoulder. "It's ok, man," he whispered.

"I'm not sure it should be a good time," I interjected, voicing my earlier thoughts back in the tree house.

Chris looked at me incredulously. "You saying you wanna go back?"

"No," I answered. That wasn't it at all. "We're going to see a dead kid. Maybe it shouldn't be a party."

Chris looked down at his feet.

"Yeah," Vern added. "If he's really bad, all cut up and blood and guts and shit all over him, I might have nightmares."

"Come on, Vern," Chris mumbled, clearly not liking Vern's description of Ray Brower's possible bodily state.

"Like with his eyeballs and guts everywhere…" Vern continued, ignoring Chris' reaction.

"Shut up, Vern! God damn it!" Chris yelled angrily. He turned to glare at Vern.

"Sorry," Vern mumbled. "I can't help it…"

Chris shook his head as he took his pack from my hands and kept an even pace beside me. His fierce, angry expression remained on his face for quite some time after that.


	8. God Gave You Something

Under the shade of trees, we continued to follow the tracks. Vern and Teddy were ahead, entertaining themselves by singing the song 'Lollipop', oblivious to Chris and I, who hung back in a comfortable silence. One of the great things about Chris was, I felt I didn't always feel the need to talk about meaningless things when it was just us. We always felt comfortable with each other, even in silence.

I was away with my thoughts, reflecting on myself and who I was. To be honest, I wasn't sure who I was. Sure, I was Georgie Lachance, kid sister of Denny Lachance, resident of Castle Rock, best friend of Chris Chambers. That, I knew. As for my meaning of life, I had no idea.

"Hey, I got some Winston's," Chris said to me. "Hawked them off my old man's dresser. One a piece for after supper."

"Yeah, that's cool," I mumbled, absentmindedly.

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "That's when a cigarette tastes best. After supper…"

"Right," I mumbled. I knew Chris was trying to weave the truth out of me. I knew because he kept looking at me in concern. I usually wasn't this quiet and he would know.

"Do you think I'm weird?" I blurted out.

"Definitely," Chris smirked.

"No man, seriously," I said, grabbing his wrist, forcing him to face me. "Am I weird?"

"Yeah, but so what? Everybody's weird," he shrugged. We kept walking, back in our silence.

"You ready for school?" he asked after a moment.

I shrugged. "No."

"Senior year," he continued. "You know what that means. Next June we'll be split up." I detected a hint of sadness in his voice.

"What are you talking about? Why would that happen?" I asked confused, grabbing his wrist again, halting his steps.

"It's not going to be like it's always been, that's why," Chris replied. "You'll be taking your college courses and me, Teddy and Vern will be in the shop courses with the rest of the retards making ashtrays and birdhouses."

He sighed and a pained look came over his face. He continued reluctantly, looking back at me.

"You—you're gonna meet a lot of new guys." He said this like he didn't like that idea. "Smart guys."

"Meet a lot of pussies is what you mean," I replied.

"No man, don't say that. Don't even think that."

"I'm not going off with no pussies. Forget it," I shrugged and continued walking, Chris right by me.

"Well, then you're a bitch!"

"What's 'bitch' about wanting to be with your friends?" I demanded.

"It's 'bitch' if your friends drag you down. You hang with us; you'll just be another wise guy with shit for brains!"

After a moment, Chris continued. "I mean…You could be a real writer someday, Georgie."

"Fuck writing!' I whirled to face him angrily. Every bitter feeling poured out of me, but none of it was directed at Chris. He may have thought it was, though. "I don't want to be a writer! It's stupid! It's a stupid waste of time!"

"That's your dad talking."

"Bullshit!" I spat, turning and continuing to walk. Chris wasn't giving up that easily.

"Bull true!" Chris fired. "I know how your dad feels about you. He doesn't give a shit about you! Denny was the one who cared about you! Don't try to tell me different!"

I couldn't say anything. I knew he was right. I just didn't want to admit it.

"You're just a kid, Georgie," he sighed.

"You sound like my dad," I remarked.

Chris stopped and stared at me. "I wish the hell I was your dad. You wouldn't be going around talking about taking these stupid shop courses if I was."

He shook his head, incredulously, like I was crazy. "It's like God gave you something, Georgie. All those stories you can make up. And he said "This is what we got for you, kid. Try not to lose it." Kids lose everything unless there is someone there to look out for them."

He paused, anger etched upon his handsome features.

"And if your parents are too fucked up to do it, then maybe I should."

I stared at him, dumbfounded at Chris' passion concerning my future. He usually kept these things to himself, acting the strong and silent type. It was weird.

"Come on you guys! Let's get moving!" Vern yelled from ahead.

"Yeah. By the time we get there, the kid won't even be dead anymore!" Teddy agreed.

Chris' eyes never left my face. He sighed, looked ahead, glanced back at me, and then walked away from me. I followed behind slowly. Another thing bothered me about Chris. The idea of us being separated was absurd, but the whole time Chris lectured me, he looked like the concept of our separation gave him pain. If he didn't like the concept, why was he fighting so hard for it to come true?

I never found out until I was much older.


	9. Train

Eventually, we arrived at a narrow railroad bridge that stretched out over a large body of water. We all stopped, puzzled by our new obstacle.

Vern looked behind him, and then looked back at the bridge. "Any of you guys know when the next train is due?"

"We could go down to the route one-third bridge…" Chris suggested.

"What! Are you crazy?" Teddy exclaimed. "That's five miles down the river!"

"Yeah, but if a train comes, there's no where else to go."

"No, there isn't. We'll just jump," Teddy replied, nonchalant.

"Teddy, it's a hundred feet," Chris remarked.

"Yeah, Teddy," Vern added.

"Look, you guys can go round if you want to," Teddy replied. "I'm crossing here. And while you guys are dragging your candy-asses half way across the state and back, I'll be waiting for you on the other side, relaxing with my thoughts."

"You use your left hand or your right hand for that?" I remarked. Behind Teddy's shoulder, I saw Chris attempting to suppress a chuckle.

Teddy glared at me. "You. Wish."

With that he set off. Chris smirked at me, shook his head, amused, and then followed Teddy across the bridge. Vern followed, choosing to travel across on his knees, thinking it was a safer option for him.

I bent down to feel the track. There was no shaking or vibration under my fingers, so I figured we were safe.

We walked for a few minutes in silence. Every now and then, I saw Chris turn his head to check on me. I didn't understand why Chris was so protective of me lately, but I shook it off. Maybe he was sick or something….

Suddenly, Vern's voice drifted through my thoughts. "I lost the comb." His comb had slipped out of his pocket and into the water bed below.

"Forget it, Vern," I sighed. Vern, with a sad look on his face, continued to crawl along the bridge.

Something didn't feel right so I bent down to check the tracks again. As my fingers curled around the cold iron, I felt a slight vibration under my touch.

Blood drained from my face. We were in trouble.

Rising slowly, I screamed at the top of my lungs, "TRAIN!"

Chris and Teddy spun around. We all saw a pillar of smoke coming around the corner.

"Oh, shit!" Vern exclaimed and tried to crawl faster.

"Move it, man! Move it!" Chris cried to Teddy and the two of them began running as fast as they could to the end of the bridge.

"Get up, Vern!" I cried, trying to heave his large body up off the tracks. He refused to get up. He was petrified. But so was I.

"Damn it! Get up!"

He finally conceded and we both began to run. But, Vern in his terror, tripped over his own feet.

"Shit, Vern!" I cried, trying to pull him back up again.

"No, no, no," Vern sobbed, lying on the tracks, refusing to move.

"We're gonna die, damn it! Get up!" I screamed, tugging on Vern. I looked behind me. The train was getting closer.

With that, he got up and we continued to run, following Chris and Teddy, who had not reached the end yet.

"You gotta go faster!" I screamed at Vern. I saw that Chris and Teddy had finally reached the end of the bridge and had jumped off the tracks. At least they were safe. But what about us?

Chris and Teddy were screaming at us, too. "Run! Run, man! Move your ass, man!" Chris yelled, frantic.

I glanced behind me. The train was too close!

I willed my and Vern's legs to move faster. We were almost at the end!

"Move it! GO! GO!" I yelled.

At last we reached the bank and I pushed Vern over the side into an escarpment below. We tumbled on the gravel and were saved by the bushes.

Coughing and sputtering, I held my head. My heart was still pounding a million miles after that too-close call.

I heard Chris' voice beside me. "Hey."

I looked up and saw he was right beside me. He must have run down the escarpment to see if I was still alive after that tumble. I looked over to see if Vern was okay, and he was. He was being helped up by Teddy.

I looked back at Chris and he held my shoulder and helped me up. When I was standing, I brushed myself off, hurting all over. I looked back at Chris when he spoke again.

"Hey," he smirked. I could tell he was relieved to see that I was relatively fine At least I wasn't dead. His happiness was etched in his teasing voice. "At least now we know when the next train was due."

I glared at him.


	10. Comforting Chris

Later, as it reached nightfall, we had a roaring fire going in our makeshift camp. We were all roasting the packaged meat I had collected earlier.

Currently, we were reliving the events of earlier.

"Man that was the all-time train dodge!" Teddy cried. "Too cool! Vern, you were so scared that you looked like that fat guy Abbott Costello when he saw the mummy."

"I wasn't that scared!"

"Vern," we all said.

"Really, I wasn't. Sincerely."

"Okay, then you won't mind if we check to see in your jockeys for Hershey squirts, will ya?" I teased.

"Go screw!" Vern replied.

"Hey, Vern. You better turn yours over," Chris said.

"This is the way I like to do it."

"Fine."

Vern's meat dropped into the fire, sending the rest of us into peals of laughter. "Oh man! Oh, no, man! You got anymore, Georgie?"

"Sorry, Vern," I laughed.

"It's not funny! What am I supposed to eat?"

"Why don't you cook your dick?" Teddy quipped.

"It'd be a small meal," Chris replied. We all continued to laugh at Vern's misfortune.

"Aha! Screw you guys! I got it!" Vern replied.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After a smoke and some relaxation, Chris had convinced me to tell a story to them. By the end of the story, I had them all wanting more but I refused. So, instead, we talked into the night until we all fell asleep exhausted. I noticed that Chris was unusually withdrawn throughout the night. I pondered that until tiredness finally consumed me…

Suddenly, I woke to the sound of loud howling in the distance. I sat up and Chris, who was lying at my head, grabbed his .45 from his pack.

I moved closer to his side. "What is it, Chris?"

"Maybe its coyotes," Chris guessed, .45 raised in one hand.

"Sounds like a woman screaming."

"Its not coyotes. It's his ghost. That Brower kid is walking through the woods," Teddy replied mysteriously.

Vern, who was trembling, said, "Oh, don't say that!"

Teddy got up and began to move towards the trees.

"Hey, Teddy. Sit down," Chris commanded.

"I'm gonna go look for it. I wanna see the ghost," he retorted.

Vern, "Don't say that!"

Another howl broke through the woods, much closer this time. Teddy flew back to us, and we all cowered together.

"Maybe we should stand guard," Vern suggested.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Chris nodded.

Teddy held out his hand. "Give me the gun. I'll take the first watch."

Then it was decided. Teddy would stand guard first, then Vern, Chris and finally me. We all settled into sleep, while Teddy stood guard first.

I drifted off into a restless sleep…

_I was at my brother's funeral. The assistants were lowering his coffin into the ground. I stood with my parents, my head bowed._

_Suddenly, my dad held my shoulder. I looked up at him, confused. "It should've been you, Georgiana," he said, disapproving…_

"Ah!" I gasped, waking up from the dream with a start. I stared into the dimming fire, the dream replaying in my head.

"You okay?"

"Huh," I mumbled, glancing up. Chris was looking at me, worriedly. I realised hours must have passed, and now Chris was standing guard, gun in hand.

"You were dreaming," Chris explained.

I looked back at the fire. Out of the corner, I saw Chris look away, too, but he was still concerned.

I decided to let him in. "I didn't cry at Denny's funeral," I mumbled.

Chris' head snapped back to me.

I looked him in the eye. "I miss him, Chris. I really miss him."

"I know," Chris whispered. "Go back to sleep."

With that, Chris stood up and walked to the look out tree. He looked troubled, like he was trying to avoid something. I decided to find out what it was.

I got up and went to him. He looked at me, confused, as I settled myself beside him.

But he didn't push me away.

I looked at him, but he avoided my eye.

After a moment, I began. "Maybe you could go into the college courses with me."

Chris scoffed. "That'll be the day."

"Why not? You're smart enough."

"They won't let me," he said simply.

"What d'you mean?"

He looked at me finally. "It's the way that people think of my family in this town. It's the way they think of me. I'm just one of those low life Chambers kids." He looked away.

"That's not true."

He looked at me sharply. "Oh, it is." He inclined his body towards me. "No one even asked me if I took the milk money that time. I just got a three day vacation."

"Did you take it?" I asked reluctantly.

He shrugged. "Yeah, I took it. You knew I took it. Teddy knew I took it. Everybody knew I took it. Even Vern knew it, I think."

After a moment, he continued, "But maybe I was sorry and I tried to give it back."

"You tried to give it back?"

"Maybe," he replied. "Just maybe. And maybe I took it to Old Lady Simons and tolder her and the money was all there. But I still got a three day vacation because it never showed up! And maybe, next week, Old Lady Simons had this brand new skirt on when she came to school."

"Yeah. Yeah!" I exclaimed. "It was brown and had dots on it!"

Chris nodded. "Yeah. So, let's just say that I stole the milk money but Old Lady Simons stole it back from me. Just suppose that I told the story. Me, Chris Chambers, kid brother to Eyeball Chambers. Do you think that anybody would have believed it?" he demanded.

"No," I mumbled quietly.

Chris' voice became angrier. "And do you think that BITCH would have dared tried something like that if had been one of those douche bags from up on the View if they had taken the money?"

"No way!" I said angrily on my best friend's behalf.

"Hell no!" he agreed. "But with me…" He shook his head and looked away angrily. "Well…I'm sure she had her eye on that skirt for a long time. Anyway, she saw her chance and she took it." I noticed his voice was shaking, but not from anger. "I was the stupid one for even trying to give it back."

We sat in silence. Then, to my surprise, tears rolled down Chris' cheek.

"I just never thought…" he choked out from under his tears. My heart ached for him. I wanted to shield him, to protect him from the pain and to reassure him that I didn't care for his reputation. To let him know that he was my Chris and that he shouldn't care what others think.

"I never thought that a teacher would…Oh, who gives a fuck anyway!" The tears overwhelmed him, and Chris Chambers cried for the first time that I had known him.

Suddenly, I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks.

"I just wish that I could go to a place where nobody knows me." The thought of never seeing Chris again stabbed at my heart. It terrified me. I grabbed his hand, and tried to smile.

"As long as you take me with you."

"Of course," he sobbed. He squeezed my hand, then looked at me.

"I guess I'm just a pussy, huh?"

"No," I whispered, putting my arm around him and letting him sob into my shoulder. I rested my cheek on the top of his head and let my own tears fall. Comforting Chris was physically awkward as he was taller than me, but I didn't really care right now.

After a few moments, Chris looked up at me, his cheeks streaked with tears. He seemed to have stopped crying.

"Why are you crying?" he asked me, trying to smirk and be light hearted.

"I hate seeing you in pain, Chris. I hate that you don't believe in yourself." His eyes softened.

"You're my best friend, Chris…" I finished weakly.

Chris pulled me to his side tightly. My head rested in the crook of his neck. I felt his voice rumble in his throat. "I know. I'm sorry. It's not fair on you, either."

Sobbing, I replied, "Sometimes I feel like I'm not a good friend to you."

Chris forced me to look at him. "Don't be ridiculous!" he said angrily, as if the idea offended him. "Don't ever think that! You're incredible! The best friend ever!"

I let my head fall back into place under his chin. Chris placed both his arms around me and held me protectively to his chest.

I found myself drifting into a peaceful slumber in the warm, comfortable grip of Chris' arms.


	11. Feelings

I woke with a start when the freight train rattled past. Bright morning sunshine shined on me, warming my skin. I looked down at the campsite. The fire had gone out and Teddy and Vern were still snoring away.

My back was so stiff, so I tried to move. I realised, however, that I was pinned against something solid. I glanced down and saw Chris' arms still around me. He was snoring loudly, with his cheek pressed on top of my head.

"Chris," I said quietly. He continued to snore, obviously in a very deep sleep.

"Chris!" I repeated louder. No response.

I smacked his leg and he woke with a start. Bashfully, he released me. I got up, stretched then turned to face him.

"You okay?" I asked him.

He smiled. "Absolutely. Thanks for the company last night," he smirked.

I blushed. "No problem." I felt embarrassed as I contemplated the idea of us asleep together.

With that I turned and went to gather my things.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In the blistering heat, we pressed on. We were all consuming what little that was left of our small supply of food.

"Geez, Georgie. Why couldn't you have gotten some breakfast stuff, like Twinkies and Pez and root beer?" Vern accused.

"Sorry, Vern," I replied. "I guess a more experienced shopper could've gotten more for your seven cents."

With our stomachs rumbling, we pressed on towards the Royal River. The reality of Ray Brower was growing and kept us moving despite the heat. For me, the idea of seeing that kid's dead body was starting to become an obsession.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Finally, we arrived at the forest that surrounded the Royal River.

One hand on his hip, Chris announced. "Ladies and gentlemen, The Royal."

Teddy looked to the left. "God, the tracks go way out of the way."

"If we cut across this field here we'll be there in an hour," Chris replied.

Vern shook his head. "I think we should just stick to the tracks."

"I say we go across the field," Teddy countered.

"Georgie?" Chris asked me.

"Yeah."

"Let's go!" Chris exclaimed and together we ran across the field, Teddy not far behind us and Vern, reluctantly, trailing us.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The field was a bad idea. It led us into a mud-laiden forest which had us sinking to our ankles. We trudged on, until we reached the Royal.

"I hate this shortcut," Vern grumbled.

"I hate this shortcut," Teddy mocked him. Vern made a sharp movement, and Teddy flinched. Vern burst into laughter.

"You flinched! Two for flinching! Ha-ha!"

Teddy punched him twice in the arm. "But…you flinched," Vern said, confused.

"I know. Two for flinching," Teddy rolled his eyes.

Soon, we came to the bank of the river. Chris grabbed a long branch and felt for the bottom of the river, testing its deepness.

"Hey y'all, it's not that deep. We can walk across." He threw the stick aside.

With that we hitched up our bags and proceeded to cross the river.

We took three steps and found ourselves submerged in murky river water. We all gasped for air as our heads broke the surface.

Chris had look that on his face that clearly said "Crap." I would have laughed, had I not been preoccupied with thoughts about seeing Ray Brower.

"I told you we should've stuck to the tracks," Vern grumbled.

Teddy looked at him. "Is it just me or are you the world's biggest pussy?"

"I suppose this fun for you?" Vern replied sarcastically.

"No. But this is."

With that, he grabbed Vern's head and dunked him under the surface, laughing the whole time. I rolled my eyes as Vern and Teddy wrestled with each other in the water.

"Come on, Teddy! Act your age!" Chris cried.

"This is my age!" Teddy cried back. "I'm in the prime of my youth and I'll only be young once!"

"Yeah, but you're gonna be stupid for the rest of your life."

I sighed in quiet frustration as Chris smirked at me. I looked ahead at the bank as I heard Teddy reply, "Oooo, that's it, Chambers! You just signed your own death warrant! You die, Chambers!"

I turned as Teddy and Vern pounced on Chris and attempt to dunk Chris. With the weight of both of them they accomplished this, however, Chris could dunk them both effortlessly.

Leaving the boys to their wrestling match, I waded my way over to bank on the other side of the river. I nearly got their unnoticed until I heard Chris taunting voice, "Hey! Where d'you think your going, Lachance?"

I turned. "Come on you, guys," I sighed.

I kept on moving, but I could hear yelling and splashing following me. I groaned. I figured they were coming after me.

"Come on you guys!" I repeated louder. Suddenly, I was tackled to the ground. I glanced up and saw Chris on top of me, grinning with a wild look on his face. I groaned as I felt Verns' weight and Teddy's weight pile on top off me.

"Get off guys!" I yelled.

They took no notice. Vern grabbed my head and held it in a lock. "Sleeper hold! Sleeper hold!" he chanted, tugging on my ear.

Glancing up at Vern, I noticed a small, dark spot on his neck. "Hey, Vern. Vern! There's something on your neck!"

"Yeah right! I'm not falling for that one, Lachance!"

"No, Vern," came Chris' voice from above me, "there is something on your neck!"

"It's a leech…" Teddy trailed. Then he screamed, "LEECHES!"

We were all on our feet at once, yelling at the top of our lungs. We stripped down to our underwear, frantically ripping the mountains of leeches from our bodies.

Small black shapes lay all over my body. I could feel the little sucking motions pulling at my skin. I swatted all the ones I could reach, but I could still feel them on my back.

"Georgie, there's some on your back!" Chris exclaimed. I swung around and let him swat the leeches from my back. Despite my frantic fear of the leeches, the feel of Chris' warm hands brushing against my back sent tingles along my spine. Where were these feelings coming from?

"Are there any on mine?" Chris asked me, turning his back to me. I brushed the leeches off his muscle-ridden back.

Eventually, all the leeches were gone from our bodies. However, something didn't feel right to me. Then, I felt it.

I looked down into my underwear and found a leech on a very discreet part of my anatomy.

"Oh shit…." I muttered. "Chris. Oh, shit, Chris," I said looking up, my voice shaking. Chris looked back at me warily. "Oh shit, man!"

All the boys' eyes were on me as I retrieved the leech. However, blood was all over my fingers as the leech dropped to the ground.

I was never good with blood. Suddenly, all went black.

When I regained consciousness, I was on the hard ground. Chris, Teddy and Vern were all around me, still half-naked. Obviously, I hadn't been out for very long.

"You okay, Georgie?" Chris asked me, hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah," I replied weakly. "Just let me lie here for a second."

Chris nodded. Vern and Teddy left, but Chris stayed with me. I weakly pushed myself up into a sitting position.

"You sure you're okay?" Chris asked, placing a hand under my jaw line, and stroking my cheek with his thumb. The trail his thumb left felt like fire against my skin. I felt a blush creeping up my neck.

"Yeah," I replied, smiling.

He gave me an answering smile in return, then got up and joined Teddy and Vern.

I sat there, running my new feelings for Chris through my head. Then realization hit me like a lightning bolt.

I was in love with Chris Chambers.


	12. Author's Note

**Hey guys I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in awhile. I've been really busy with university/college and I just haven't had the time lately, but I'm going to get back into it ******

**By the way, go back and read chapter 11 again, I edited it and made it a bit better I think. Tell me what you think…**

**Thanks to all those who have left comments on my stories, its really nice to know that people enjoy my story ******

**Enjoy the story!!**


	13. Life's Destination

"Coming through the woods, I thought would have saved over an hour," Chris called down to me.

We had finally made it to South Harlow. We arrived at a country lane that overlapped with the rail tracks.

"Teddy?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"Is this the Back Harlow Road?" I asked.

He looked down the lane, then looked back at me. "Yeah."

Chris came beside me. My heart beat faster than usual.

"The Brower kid must be around here some place. Teddy, you and Vern take the left side of the tracks. We'll take the right."

"All right," Teddy agreed, and we set off along the tracks.

I tried to keep a good eye out for Ray Brower's body, but I couldn't concentrate. I kept thinking about Chris.

I couldn't believe I was in love with him. We had been friends for years, and we had always been platonic. I always thought we would reman that way. Obviously, I was wrong.

I wondered how he felt about me. I kept worrying that he didn't care for me the way that I cared for him.

Suddenly, Vern's voice called out excitedly. "There he is! I see him! Look! Over here! I see him, I see him!"

We all ran to Vern, and looked to where he was pointing. Underneath a wild scrub, a pair of legs jutted out at an odd angle.

Chris pushed past us and led the way down the hill to the scrub. We gathered around the bush, while Chris pulled the branches back with a long stick. The bloody face of Ray Brower was revealed to us.

None of us could breath. The train knocked the life out of his body. The kid wasn't sick. The kid wasn't sleeping. The kid was dead.

As I looked at him, memories of my dead brother came flooding back to me. I didn't take my eyes off Brower, even when Chris said, "Let's look for some long branches. We'll build him a stretcher."

I needed to sit down; otherwise my knees would give way. I found my way to a log and sank down onto it.

"Georgie?" I heard Chris' voice sound gently.

I didn't respond. All I could mumble was, "Why did you have to die?"

"What's wrong with Georgie?" Vern asked.

"N-nothing….Why don't you guys just go over there and look for some branches, okay?" Chris replied softly.

"Okay," Teddy agreed.

I kept my eyes on Ray, who reminded me so much of Denny. I felt Chris next to me, looking at me in concern.

"Why did Denny have to die, Chris? Why did Denny have to die?" I whispered.

"I don't know," he replied quietly.

"It should've been me."

"Don't say that."

"It should've been me."

"Don't say that, sweetie."

"I'm no good. My dad said it. I'm no good."

"He doesn't know you."

"He hates me." I could feel my voice shaking and tears welling up in my eyes.

"He doesn't hate you."

"He hates me."

"No. He just doesn't know you."

"My dad hates me." I fell apart then. I collapsed into uncontrollable sobs. Everything in my life was falling apart.

Chris' arm was around me in a second, pulling me to him. I clutched at him and cried into his chest. He rubbed my shoulder soothingly, rested his head on mine and rocked me gently.

After a few moments, Chris said quietly, "You're gonna be a great writer someday, Georgie. You might even write about us guys if you ever get hard up for material."

I laughed quietly under my tears. I continued to cry into Chris' chest until I felt that I could cry no more.

I raised my head and looked Chris in the eye. He wiped my tears away with his thumb.

"Guess I'd have to be pretty hard up, huh?" I asked, jokingly. I noticed that our faces were very close together. I could feel his breath on my face.

He smirked. "Yeah…."

Chris leaned in towards me and pressed his lips softly to mine. My heart stopped beating.

He kissed me softly for a little while longer, until he pushed his mouth more urgently against mine. His hand found its way around my neck, pulling me to him. My fingers wound themselves into his hair.

We kissed more passionately until we heard a familiar but unwelcome voice.


	14. Your Brother's Good Sense

"What, what the fuck do you know about this?"

Chris and I pulled apart immediately when we heard that voice. We looked up at the top of the incline, near the tracks, and saw Ace Merrill smirking evilly down at us. Chris jumped of the log and stood protectively in front of me as his brother, Eyeball joined Ace at the top of the hill. Teddy and Vern ran to Chris' side in an attempted effort to back him up.

"Son of a bitch! My little brother!" Eyeball cried, outraged as he made his way down the hill towards us with Ace.

"You wasn't planning on taking the body from us, was ya kids?" Ace asked, threatingly.

"You get away, man," Chris replied, looking a little shaken. Nobody had anticipated the Cobra's sudden involvement.

Ace just smirked back at Chris.

"We were the ones who found him. That's not fair!" Chris argued.

"That's not fair!" Eyeball mocked his brother. "Well, not anymore."

"There's four of us, Eyeball. You just make your move." Teddy replied coolly.

"Oh we will, don't you worry," Ace smirked. At the top of the hill appeared Billy Tessio, Charlie Hogan, Vince Desjardins and a few other members of the Cobras. I became frightened. Ace and Eyeball were enough to take us down, but the whole gang seemed even more formidable.

"Vern, you little son of a whore!" Charlie cursed, coming down the incline. "You were under the porch!"

"No, I swear!" Vern cried, palms out in front of him as if to stop them from coming. "It wasn't me!"

"You little peep-hole looking bunghole! I ought to beat the shit out of you!" Billy raged, joining Charlie, Ace and Eyeball at the bottom of the incline. Vince and the rest of the gang followed Billy down, too.

Vern, in a terror, fled into the trees behind us. It was only Chris, Teddy and I left.

Ace extended his arm and clicked at Billy. It was obviously a dominance sign. A warning and an order all in one. Billy stopped and looked at Ace expectantly.

Ace looked back at us. "Now, you have two choices. One: you leave quietly, we take the body," he reasoned menacingly. I looked at Chris as he said this, and saw he was shaking his head slightly, "or two: you stay, we beat the shit out of you, and we take the body."

"Besides, Billy and I found him first," Charlie contributed rather childishly.

"Yeah, Vern told us how you found him," Teddy taunted. "Oh, Billy! I wish we never boosted that car! Oh, Billy! I think I just turned my Fruit Loops into a fudge factory!" he mocked the older boy.

"That's it! Your ass is brass!"

Ace stopped Charlie in the same way he silenced Billy. He looked at Chris with pure loathing. "Okay, Chambers, you little faggot. This is your last chance. What d'you say, kid?"

"Why don't you go home and fuck your mother some more?" was Chris' reply.

Ace glared as Chris as he pulled a pocket knife out of his pants. "You're dead."

I held my breath as Ace slowly moved towards Chris with the knife. Teddy was trying to reason with Chris. "Come on, Chris, man. He's got a knife!"

"They're not taking him," Chris said, his voice thick with the implication that he wasn't going anywhere. Eventually, Teddy ran in pursuit of Vern, clearly terrified by this new development. It was only me and Chris now.

Then, I remembered the .45 that Chris had stolen from his father. I looked down and saw Chris' pack at my feet, and I remembered with sudden relief and elation that it was hidden in his pack. I bent down as I heard Eyeball say "Ace, come on…" I was shocked. I never thought that Eyeball would ever be concerned for his kid brother.

With the gun behind my back, I bent straight. I was prepared to use it at the opportune moment to protect the one I loved. I saw with horror that Ace was too close to Chris. Despite looking extremely nervous and frightened, Chris stood his ground.

"You're gonna have to kill me, Ace."

"No problem."

I pulled the gun from behind my back as Ace grabbed Chris and aimed the knife at his throat. I fired it into the air, filling the gun with a slight smoke and a formidable and intimidating echo. Ace jumped back from Chris.

Glaring at Ace and pointing the gun in his direction, I moved down to stand next to Chris, every bit of loathing that I felt towards Ace and his gang evident in my stance and glare.

"You're not taking him. Nobody's taking him." I announced icily.

"C'mon, kid, give me the gun before you take your foot off," Ace said to me, looking a little shaken. He proceeded to move towards me.

I held the gun tighter and flicked the safety switch off. I aimed it more purposefully at him, which stopped him in his tracks.

"One move, Ace," I all but whispered, "and I'll kill you, I swear to God."

"C'mon Lachance, give me the gun," Ace demanded coolly. "You must have some of your brother's good sense?"

I breathed in heavily to calm myself. "Fuck off, you cheap dime-store hood."

"What are you gonna do? Shoot us all?"

"No Ace. Just you."

Ace looked nervously at his friends. Then, seeming to gather is cool, he composed himself. He looked Chris dead in the eye, held up his knife and said in a low, threatening voice, "We're gonna get you for this."

Chris looked skeptical. "Maybe you will and maybe you won't."

"Oh we will." Ace turned and jerked his head at the boys, and they reluctantly turned and left. He followed suite slowly. At the top of the incline to the tracks, Ace turned back to us and said, "We're not gonna forget this if that's what your thinking. This is big time baby."

Chris rolled his eyes. I kept the gun firmly in front of my body. Once Ace had finally gone, we relaxed at once. Chris looked at me with a worried look in his eyes. He turned to face me, placing both hands on my shoulders.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

I nodded slightly, my eyes on the ground. I felt something wet trickle down my cheek. Wiping it away, I realized I had begun to cry again. Chris gently pried the gun out of my hand, flicked the safety switch back on, placed the gun on the log, and then came back to me.

Cradling my cheek in his hands, he guided my face up to look him in the eye. "Are you sure? You don't look it."

I couldn't answer him. I had no words. The only answer I could provide was to throw my arms around his neck and bury my face into his neck, needing comfort. His arms encased my waist and tightened, as if he didn't want to let me go. I felt his face bury into my hair. The moment was perfect. I knew this was where I belonged. I knew my purpose in life: to be with Chris. I pulled my head back and we looked into each other's eyes.

I kissed him lightly on the lips. "I love you," I admitted.

He smiled and kissed me back. "I love you, too. So much." I felt my stomachs perform little flips at his words.

I could hear footsteps approaching, so I released Chris. I knew it had to be Teddy and Vern. As we separated, I could have sworn that I saw a disappointed look come upon Chris' face.

When Vern and Teddy arrived, Vern asked Chris, "Are we gonna take him?"

"No," I answered for Chris.

"But we came all this way. "We were supposed to be heroes…" Teddy said softly.

I turned to face him. "Not this way, Teddy." I picked up a blanket nearby and asked, "Chris, can you give me a hand." Chris stepped forward at once and helped me place the body over Ray Brower.

We headed home, and although many thoughts raced through our minds, we barely spoke. We decided to provide an anonymous phone call to the police, and in the end, Ray's body was found. Neither our gang nor Ace's gang got the credit for it.

However, this was not to be a happily ever after. All of us, Chris and I in particular, could not anticipate what awaited us when we arrived home.


	15. Hurt For Love

As I said, it was not to be a happy ending for any of us.

We made it back to Castle Rock a little after eight o'clock in the morning. We'd only been gone for two days, but already the town seemed different. Smaller.

We all stopped in the middle of the deserted crossroads in the center of the town. We were all silent as the events of the previous two days filtered through each of our minds.

After a few moments of silence, Vern spoke. "Well, see you in school."

"Yeah," Chris replied.

"Yeah," I replied, smiling.

"See you in senior high," Teddy answered.

Vern set off down the right side of the road, waving tentatively as he went. Teddy, Chris and I watched as he disappeared around the next corner. Then, Teddy spoke.

"Well guys, I better get home before my mum puts me on the _10 Most Wanted List_."

He set off down the left road, but turned back to us before he went too far. "Hey, Chris?"

Chris looked up expectantly.

"No hard feelings, okay?"

"No way, man." Chris smiled.

Teddy nodded, and then continued down the road to his place. I felt Chris' fingers intertwine with mine. I looked up and smiled at him. He smiled lovingly back at me, then headed down the road, pulling me gently behind him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We ended up at the tree house. We stood at the edge of the lake that lay next to our favourite haunt. Chris had been very silent ever since we had arrived there. I was starting to become worried about his silence. I hadn't expected this kind of reaction from him. It reminded me of his behaviour at the campfire before he revealed that he was tired of the stereotype that people had put him under. I was beginning to wonder what could be on his mind that could create a similar reaction like last time. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long to figure out what it was.

"I'm never gonna get out of this town, am I, Georgie?" he all but whispered to me.

I looked at him "You can do whatever you want."

"Yeah," he scoffed. He turned to me. "Give me some skin." He held out his palm to me.

Smiling, I reached out my hand to his. As my palm hit his, he trapped my hand in a tight grip. Then, in a quick motion, he pulled me to him and kissed me fiercely.

After a few moments, he broke off, but his face remained close to mine. For a moment, I completely forgot where I was. All I could think of was this boy holding me, who seemed to have stolen my heart. Everything about us together seemed so right, like it was meant to be.

"I'll see you," I managed to say, somehow finding my voice.

He smirked and leaned a little closer to my face, our lips inches apart. "Not if I see you first," he breathed to me. He touched his lips lightly to mine again before he moved away. My heart gave a lurch as he moved away from me. I didn't want to let him go. I wanted him to stay with me.

Nevertheless, I watched as he reached the end of the road and disappeared around the corner. I sighed and turned in the opposite direction to home, blissfully happy.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Somehow, in my overwhelming happiness, I stupidly decided to cut through the paddock behind my house. There was an alley that I could cut through to get home. Not that I wanted to get home all that badly, it just seemed like the logical way to go after walking in this direction. In the end, it turned out to be a very bad idea.

As I made my way across the paddock, my thoughts filled with Chris, I noticed that a few guys standing at the foot of the alley. I kept walking towards them because I couldn't recognize them from a distance and I thought that they were just boys from my school.

I was wrong.

One of the boys looked up at me as I got closer to them. His blond hair glinted in the sunlight. I was wary after that, as I seemed to faintly recognize who that hair belonged to. When I heard his voice, my suspicion was confirmed.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little bitch." It was the voice of Ace Merrill.

I gulped and slowed my steps as he and a few of his thugs approached me.

"Let me go," I said strongly.

"I don't think so," Ace smirked. "We didn't appreciate that little stunt you pulled yesterday. We told you that we wouldn't forget it. So now, you're gonna pay. You and that faggot friend of yours."

"Chris," I breathed, the colour draining from my face. "Don't you touch him!" I screamed at Ace, pushing him and shoving him in order to flee. I needed to get to Chris, to warn him, to see if he was okay. However, Ace grabbed my arm in a tight grip. He pulled me back, and smirked into my face. He had been drinking. I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Let me go," I whispered, not as strong this time.

Ace's response was vicious. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, resulting in the breath being knocked out of me. My legs gave way and I curled up in pain. Through my blurry eyes, I saw Ace smirking down on me. I realized that he must have just kneed me in the stomach.

I gasped for breath as I struggled to pull myself of the ground; however, the effort was wasted. The two thugs grabbed my arms and pinned me down to the ground. I struggled, I kicked my legs, but the weight of the two of them was too much to fight.

I screamed at the top of my lungs once I realized what was happening. Ace bent down and ripped my shirt open, the buttons flying everywhere.

"No! No!" I cried out to Ace, tears running down my cheeks. "Please, Ace, don't!"

Ace came down on top of me on all fours. "You asked for it. And don't pretend like you don't want it."

He began to unzip his jeans slowly, as if to prolong the horror that was about to unfold. I cried harder, and begged him to reconsider some ore, even though I knew it would do no good.

Suddenly, like a blessing from heaven, I heard a voice call out in the distance. "What are you doing over there?"

"Ace, man, we gotta split!" one of Ace's thugs said to him.

Ace quickly did his zipper up and climbed off me. My eyes were closed with relief. I was saved. I felt the weight fade from my arms and found I could move again. I curled up on my side as the reality of what could have happened if my saviour had arrived. Ace had just tried to rape me while was to be pinned down by his mates. Who know, maybe they would each have a turn after he was finished with me. I hugged myself tightly and fresh tears rolled down my cheeks. I just wanted to be with Chris, to be safe in his arms. I wanted to know that he was safe. Who knows what they had done to him.

"Are you okay, dearie?" a kind voice asked me, placing their hand on my shoulder.

I turned my head and saw it was my neighbour, Evie Chalmers. Her eyes widened when she recognized me.

"Georgie! Sweetheart! What happened? Are you alright?"

I shook my head and sat up, slowly, holding my shirt together. Tears continued to roll down my cheeks. I let them flow.

"They….they tried to hurt me…." I choked, trying to fight back new tears. "To…to…violate me…."

Mrs. Chalmers gasped. "Who were they?"

"I don't….don't…want to talk about it…I just want to get home."

I got up and ran from her. I didn't stop running until I ran through my front door and slammed it behind me. I sank to my knees on the walk way. I heard my mother in the kitchen doorway.

"Georgiana?"

I didn't reply, I just sobbed, half screaming. I felt my mother come to me, helping me up. She guided me up the stairs and into my room. I lay on my bed for an immeasurable amount of time, the time ending once I had drifted off to sleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I woke to the sound of my door opening. My mother walked in timidly, clearly worried about disturbing me.

"Georgie?" she began. I raised my head off my pillow. I saw my father behind my mother at the door. He did not look upset or remorseful. He looked bored. Anger bubbled up inside me, but I forced myself to focus on my mother.

"What is it?" I croaked, my voice thick from crying the previous night.

"I've just received a call from the hospital…"

The colour drained from my face. I knew this would not be good news.

"It's Christopher. He was just admitted half an hour ago."


	16. Feeling Whole Again

I burst through the swinging doors of the hospital. I was alone. My father had forbid my mother from accompanying me to the hospital for Chris' sake. That didn't stop me, however. I had run past my parents, down the stairs, grabbed my keys from the shelf and burst out the front door. I climbed into the car and shoved the keys into the ignition. I drove as fast as was allowable until I reached the Castle Rock hospital. I felt like I was on the verge of collapsing all together. I needed to find Chris, so I could begin to feel whole again.

"Excuse me," I said as I reached the front reception desk. The nurse looked up at me expectantly.

"Hi. What can I do for you?"

"My boyfriend was admitted about half an hour ago. His name is Chris Chambers. I just wanted to now where he was."

The nurse consulted a list in her hand. "Chambers….Chambers….Ah, here we are. Yes, Mr. Chambers was admitted to room 3.08."

She gave me the directions to his room and I flew up three flights of stairs to his room. As I stood in the door way, I couldn't not believe the sight I saw. I could barely recognize Chris. He was propped up against the pillows with his left arm in a sling. His face had bruises and traces of dried blood on his face. He didn't notice my entry. I could hear him snoring lightly.

I walked into the room and quietly went to his side, so as not to disturb him. I couldn't believe that new tears had begun to well up in my eyes. I thought that I couldn't cry anymore after all that I did last week. But seeing Chris in the hospital bed, clearly injured, pulled at my heartstrings. Seeing him hurt was too much for me. I should have been with him last night. Maybe if I was, the attack on the both of us wouldn't of happened.

I placed my hand gently on his cheek, so as not to wake him. His face looked like it had been badly beaten. I stroked his battered cheek with my thumb lightly. However, the slight pressure was enough to wake him. He mumbled under his breath and his eyes fluttered open. When he saw me, a smile stretched across his face, only it was slightly pained as he realized something must have happened to me last night. Or it may have been because his face was all bruised.

"Georgie," he croaked. His right hand came up and kept my hand on his cheek. He closed his eyes at my touch.

"Thank God you're okay," I whispered, the relief flooding through my voice.

"I'll survive," he replied, and he opened his eyes. He searched my eyes for something. "What happened? What did they do to you?"

"Chris," I sighed. "I don't think this is the best time. I think for now we should just focus on your recovery."

"Georgie, I need to now," Chris replied, low but urgent. "If they so much as touched you, I swear to God, I will kill them."

"That's exactly why I won't tell you, because you won't focus on yourself. You'll only want to go and get revenge and it'll only take you longer to get better!" I replied back, at little angrier.

Chris sighed and tried to sit up. I grabbed his shoulders quickly and helped him sit up right in his bed. Using his good hand, he patted the space next to him. I sat down with my legs swinging over the side of the bed. "Georgie," he began. "I'm going crazy over here. When they beat me, they mentioned that they were gonna do something even worse to you, and this whole time since them I've been going crazy with worry over what had to happened to you. I need to know. Tell me," he said finally.

I sighed. I didn't want to tell him. Not yet, at least. I wanted to wait until he had gotten better so that he didn't have to have it hanging around his mind while he recovered. But I knew he wouldn't quit until I told him.

"After you left me at the tree house," I started, my voice trembling. Chris could see that, so he took my hand in his good one and squeezed it, a reassuring gesture, "I decided to travel through the paddock at the back of my street. They trapped me there. Ace was there, with a couple of his mates. Ace kicked me in the stomach. I fell to the ground. Ace's mates pinned my arms down, while Ace tried to…tried to…"

Chris' hand let go of mine. "Okay, I get it." I saw his hands clench into fists as he said this.

There was a few moments silence. Then, Chris began again. "Georgie, I swear to you, that they will not touch you again. I won't do anything now while I'm getting better, but I can't guarantee that I won't do anything once I'm out of here."

I nodded, my eyes on the floor. I felt his hand touch my cheek. "Hey," he said softly, gently. I looked up at him. "I love you."

I smiled slightly. "I love you, too." I leaned across him, careful to not hit his bandaged arm and planted a light kiss on his lips. He returned it, kissing me more when I tried to pull away. I began to feel whole again. Kissing him felt natural, right. I was home. We kissed for a few more seconds until Chris cringed. "Ow," he breathed. I pulled away sharply.

"Sorry," I gasped.

Chris smiled his usual mischievous smile that I loved. "It's okay. Actually, it's more than fine. I'd gladly go through mounds of pain f it meant I could kiss you."

I blushed slightly, but smiled back at him.

"Come here," he gestured to his good side. I got up and moved to the other side of the bed. He held out his arm and I curled up next to him on the hospital bed. His arms tightened around me and held me close. We lay like that for a long time, forgetting our troubles that we knew would be waiting for us outside.


	17. Forgiven

A few hours later, Vern and Teddy burst into the room. I looked up from my chair beside Chris' bed. The two boys looked worried. I had never seen them look so scared in their lives.

"Chris, man, are you alright?" Teddy exclaimed as he and Vern reached his bed.

"Yeah," Chris reassured them. "I got a broken arm and a few bumps and bruises but other than that, I'm fine." I frowned at him. He wasn't fine. He was lying in a hospital bed, for crying out loud. "How did you guys find out about me?" he continued.

"Well, I was at home eating my lunch, and my mum came home with the news. You know how much of a gossip she is. Anyway, I ran to Teddy's place and told him and we ran all the way here," Vern concluded.

"Yeah, man," Teddy agreed. "We were really worried about you."

Chris smirked. "Aww, Teddy, I didn't know you were such a softie!"

Teddy punched him lightly in the shoulder. "You learn new things everyday."

That's when I noticed something about the boys. There were light purple marks all over their arms, and when I looked properly, on their faces also.

"Vern?" I spoke up for the first time. All the boys turned to look at me. "Were did you get those bruises?"

Vern glanced down at his arms. "Oh, these? We were cornered by a few of Ace's thugs, too."

"They beat us, but we fought back. It was only one or two so we didn't come out that bad. How many were on you, Chris?" Teddy asked.

Chris cringed. "Four or five, I guess. Wasn't really counting."

"But, why didn't you fight back?" Vern asked, outraged. "You're strong, Chris, stronger than all of us. Not to mention much taller."

"Vern, I tried, all right?" Chris snapped. "I probably laid a few hits, but it wasn't enough. It's kinda hard to win when you're outnumbered by five nineteen year olds, okay."

Vern was sheepish. "Sorry, I was just curious."

Chris sighed and looked away from him.

After a few moments of silence, Teddy spoke up. "What happened to you, Georgie?" he asked, addressing me. I looked him in the eye. "You look like you got away unhurt. You're lucky that nothing happened to you."

Chris looked at me worriedly.

"I didn't say I didn't get hurt," I said quietly.

"You did get hurt?" Vern said incredulously. "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I muttered, standing from my seat. I turned away from the boys, looking out the window. I didn't want to revisit the memory of my terror. I wanted to avoid it at all cost.

"What happened?" Vern asked, ignoring my remark.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay!" I yelled as I spun around to face them. "Don't you get it? Are you as stupid as you look, Vern? Just listen to people for once, Vern! God!"

I stormed out of the room, hearing Chris call out my name. I kept walking. Tears sprung in my eyes as Vern's persistence brought the horrible memories of this afternoon travelled back into my mind. The pain as Ace kicked me in the stomach and I hit the ground. The horror as they pinned me to the ground and the comprehension of what Ace was planning to do to me.

I fought back the tears. I had enough of crying. The amount I had cried these past few days was surely enough to last me for the rest of my life. And I knew I would have Chris there with me to support me. I knew I would have him. That made me feel so much better.

I also felt guilty for going off at Vern like that. He didn't deserve it. Not really. It was just my frustration of having to face my terror. But I realized now, that it's what I needed. I needed to realize that I was strong enough to face this dilemma head on. I knew I wouldn't be alone.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I entered back into the room. Teddy had left but Vern was still there with Chris, sitting in the chair that I had occupied.

"Vern?" I said timidly as I walked in. They both looked up at me; Chris, in relief, Vern, in apprehension, like he was scared that I was going to explode at him again.

"What's up, Georgie?" Vern asked nervously.

"I just anted to say that I'm sorry about before. You didn't deserve that. I guess I was just frustrated at myself, because I couldn't just forget what had happened to me. Anyway, I'm really sorry. I hope you can forgive me."

Vern smiled, got up and walked over to me. "You're already forgiven."

I smiled back.


	18. I've Never Been More Sure

A year had past and so much had changed. As Chris and I completed our final year of high school, we lost contact with Teddy and Vern, until they just became two more faces in the crowd. Once Chris had gotten out of the hospital, he didn't go after Ace and his gang for what they did to me, but he never left me alone around them. Because we didn't tell the authorities about what had happened, the Cobras left us alone. We weren't bothered by them after that. Chris and I also came out as an established couple once he came out of the hospital. Our relationship was perfect. The only downside to it was the constant fighting with my parents. They hated the fact that I was Chris Chamber's girlfriend; in particular, my father hated it. That was no surprise. He hated Chris even when he was my best friend. Chris always felt guilty that he was the cause of our arguments.

"I feel horrible, babe," he said one day when we were up in the tree house one afternoon. His arm was draped around my neck as we lay on the mattress that had been left up here. My head was lying on his chest, my fingers linked with his hand that was near my neck.

I turned my head to look up at him. "What are you talking about?"

He looked down at me. "I feel guilty that you're fighting with your parents over me. I don't want to be the cause of the riff between you guys…." he trailed off.

"Hey," I said, propping myself up on one of my elbows and placing a hand on his cheek. "I don't care about what my parents say about us. They can't keep us apart. They never will. I love you, and they're just gonna have to deal with that. It's their problem, not ours."

His eyes softened. "Are you sure?"

I half-smiled. "I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life." I bent towards his face, and his lips met mine tenderly. After a few moments, his lips pressed against mine more urgently and his hand found its way into my hair, welding my face to his. My hands did the same, and we embraced like that for what seemed like a perfect forever.

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Our graduation finally arrived. All the students at Castle rock High were a buzz with the excitement of the prospect of finally leaving school behind, and venturing out into the big wide world. I didn't see much of Chris during the day, as we were both busy getting ready for the ceremony at our school.

We all stood in line as our principal called out our names one by one. Chris was called up first and he ascended the stairs to the makeshift stage. He was smiling as he reached Principal Eastwood and shook his hand. I was watching from further down the line and my heart swelled with pride at the sight of Chris finally achieving something that he worked so hard to accomplish. Teddy had his turn soon after Chris, and soon it was my turn. Eastwood called out my name and I ascended the stairs. I shook Eastwood's hand and he handed me my certificate and said, "Congratulations, Georgiana. All the best for the future."

"Thank you, sir," I replied. As I turned, the audience clapped and cheered as they had done for everyone. I looked out and saw my parents. My mother was absolutely beaming with pride, clapping and cheering long with everybody else. My father had no expression, he just clapped a few times, and then his arms feel down next to his side. I frowned as I turned away. I joined the line again and I caught Chris' eye. He winked at me, so I waved and winked back. He smiled, and then turned to watch the others get called. Vern was called not too long after I was. I clapped for Vern, and was glade to see the smile of disbelief and triumph cross his face. Soon, we were all listening to Principal Eastwood address us at the podium.

"Before we officially perform our graduation for these young people, I would like to make on last announcement. One of our students has stood out this year and has shown great commitment, courage and integrity towards his studies, his school life and to his fellow students, and as a result, has achieved outstanding results in his final exams. We are proud to announce that this student has graduated not only with honors, but has been granted the chance to attend Harvard, with a scholarship for the full four years it takes to complete a full degree in law. I am proud to announce that this student is Christopher Chambers."

Gasping, I looked over at Chris. A look of complete shock had crossed his face, like he had no clue what was coming. After I'd overcome my shock, I clapped and cheered my heart out for him as he climbed back up onto the stage and shook hands with Eastwood once again. He collected his second certificate and descended the stairs. After that, Eastwood dismissed us and we dispersed into the crowd to meet with our friends and family.

"Georgie!" my mother called out as she reached me. "Congratulations, honey!"

"Thanks," I said. "Where's dad?"

"Uh," she said a little distracted. "He had to leave for a work thing, you know."

I scoffed. "What a surprise…"

"Georgie, please, can we please not fight," mum sighed, a little exasperated. "Not today.

"Whatever. I'm gonna find Chris, okay?"

A pained look came across my mother's face as I turned and left, searching for him in the crowd. I finally spotted him with his mother on the other side of the room. I made my way over to him, smiling all the way.

"Georgie," Chris' mother, Julie said as I reached them. "Congratulations, sweetie."

"Thanks, but I think the real congratulations should go to Chris," I smiled at him.

He smiled back and wrapped his arm securely around my waist. "Aw, thanks, gorgeous!" he replied, a proud look on his face.

"You're welcome."

"Well, Chris, I'm going out the front. I need my fill of cigarette smoke," she winked at us. She turned as she left the building. I wasn't sure how to respond to that. I looked up at Chris.

"So, honors, huh?' I grinned cheekily.

"Yeah. And a chance to study at Harvard Law School. Interesting."

"And you said you couldn't do anything with your life?" I teased.

"Hey, I only graduated. I'm not there yet. Now, I need to go to college and graduate from that. Then, maybe I'll admit that I was wrong," he grinned down at me, teasing back.

"Congratulations, baby," I exclaimed, throwing my arms around his neck. His face searched mine and our lips met in a passionate embrace. We kept at it until we were interrupted by a loud noise. It was someone clearing his throat. Chris broke off our kiss and looked at the intruder. "Teddy? Vern?" his voice was full of surprise and recognition.

I turned my head. Sure enough, Teddy and Vern were standing there, looking awkward. I released Chris, blushing slightly that they had caught us kissing like our lives depended on it, and turned to face them.

"Hey," I said, a little awkwardly. We hadn't spoken in a year. It seemed out of the ordinary to be talking to them after all this time.

"Hey," Vern began. Teddy just nodded curtly. Teddy had grown a little taller and was very lanky. He still had the same old horn-rimmed glasses that he had a year ago. Vern, on the other hand, had completely changed. He was no longer the chubby sixteen year old I remembered. He was tall, and completely lost his puppy fat. He was now muscly, and very handsome. He wasn't the same Vern that I remembered.

"Look, we just wanted to come and over and say congratulations to you both."

"No problem," Chris replied, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, you too." I added.

Vern smiled. "Well, see ya later."

"See ya," Teddy said for the first time.

"Bye," Chris and I said together.

The two boys turned and left. Chris and I turned to look at each other stunned. "I would never of thought that would happen." I said to Chris.

"Hmm," Chris trailed off, thoughtfully.

"What?"

"I have a question for you," Chris grinned, as he wrapped both of his arms around my waist.

"What?" I repeated, intrigued by the look on his face.

Chris looked into my eyes intensely. "Move in with me?"

I looked at him. Was he serious?

"I am," Chris replied. For a second I wondered what he was on about then I realized I must have thought out loud. "I want to be with you always and I think we're ready."

"It's a big step, Chris. Are you sure?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life," he recited me.

I smiled back at him. "Okay. Yes!"

His response was claiming my lips with his.


	19. Urgency

Chris walked me home after the ceremony. I had told my mother that I wanted to walk home with him instead of riding with her. She had a slight look of disapproval on her face as she drove off. I didn't care. I was filled with a seemingly eternal euphoric feeling that I never wanted to disappear. I had graduated high school, I had my true love, our relationship was going from strength to strength, I was moving in with him, and I had my whole life ahead of me. Things couldn't be more perfect.

I could sense that Chris was ecstatic about the new direction our relationship was yet to head in. I could see it in his eyes as he looked at me, and in the way he seemed to never let me go while we ate at the Blue Point Diner. He seemed to always be touching me whenever he could get the chance. I had no hesitations about moving in together, as we spent majority of the dinner touching, kissing, probably making the fellow diners nauseated by our show of affection. I couldn't care less, and I'm sure that Chris didn't either.

Once we finally got to my place, the lights were all off. My parents couldn't be bothered waiting up for me, which I really didn't mind. Chris walked me up the stairs of the front porch and we sat on the swinging chair in the pitch black. Chris wrapped his arms around me and I relaxed into him, closing my eyes in contentment. I was fine with just sitting there with him. This was my idea of a perfect heaven. I sighed in happiness as I felt Chris' hand stroke my arm. I felt his lips touch my hair, and his deep voice grumbled, "Tonight has been the best night of my life."

I smiled and replied, "It'd be mine, too."

"I've got relatives that live over there, so I could see if they could maybe find us a place over there." Chris said quietly.

I sat up gently from Chris' embrace. His arm stayed around my shoulders. I placed my hand on his cheek. "That sounds perfect. Only…"

I could hear the concern creep into his voice. "Only what?"

I sighed internally. "Come inside. It's cold out here. I think it would be better if we took this conversation inside. I want to be able to see your face as we talk."

"Okay, sure," Chris replied, sounding confused, but agreeing to my suggestion all the same.

Taking his hand and pulling him off the chair, I managed to maneuver my way to the hide-a-key under a potted plant near the door. Unlocking it as quietly as I could, we crept through the house, up the stairs and into my room. Closing the door, I flicked on the lights and turned to Chris, who still had hold of my hand. Now that I could see his face, I could tell that the confused tone I heard was exactly true. It showed on his face.

"Come sit," I said, letting go of his hand and walking over to sit on the edge of my bed. He followed obediently after a moments' pause.

He sighed as he sat down. "So, what's the problem? You don't want to move in with me anymore, is that it?"

"No, no," I said quietly, not wanting to wake my parents up and alerting them to my boyfriend's presence. I made my tone soothing, as I could see a hint of anger in Chris' eyes. It hurt me to see that emotion in his eyes, directed at me. "That's not it at all. I still want to move in with you. It's all I want at the moment."

The hint of anger was till there, but not as harsh as before. "Then what was with your reaction to my suggestion about calling my relatives first thing. We could have our own place and everything in about two weeks."

"I know. I reacted to the part about calling your relatives so quickly. I didn't realize that you were planning on leaving here so soon. We still have heaps of time before you start at Harvard, and I guess I just surprised, is all." Looking him in the eye, I said urgently, "Please don't think that I didn't want to move in with you anymore. Because I do. I really do."

The anger faded instantly. I sighed in relief internally. He understood. "Oh, that's all?" A grin spread over his face. "Well," he began, placing one of his hands on my knee, "I cannot wait to get out of this place. I wanna leave; start over as soon as I can. There are too many painful memories attached to this place. I always promised myself that I would leave here as soon as I was able. And there is no one I would rather fulfill that promise with than you."

I melted at those words. "Really?"

He nodded his head and took one of my hands in his free hand. The other one had subtly travelled up onto my thigh. "Absolutely. Plus, I need to get up there soon anyway, so that I can go check out the school and my course. Also, if we move up there soon, we can have time to get settled into our new home and everything. Get to know the neighbourhood, you know."

He leaned towards me. "What d'you say?"

I leant forwards and planted a quick kiss on his lips. "Let's do it!"

The happiness etched on his face was so bright that I forgot how to breathe for a second. He replied by kissing me back, his lips lingering on mine a lot longer than mine did on his before.

After a moment, he broke off and began planting a series of kisses on my neck. He brought his head up and looked up at me. "You know, this is only beginning of forever."

"I know," I whispered, kissing his lips softly. I was now ready to begin my new life with him. Only, breaking it to my parents would be the challenge.

**A/N: Hey guys. Sorry I haven't been updating in awhile. But you will be glad to know there will be new chapters that will be posted over the next few days. Happy reading!**


	20. Temporary Home

I deliberated for almost a week of how to tell my parents that I was moving out with the guy that they hated. I knew that there would probably be a throw down with my father, whilst my mother would beg for me to stay in Castle Rock. She'd probably start tearing up for dramatic effect. But nothing would change my mind. I wouldn't budge. I would move away from Oregon all the way to Massachusetts once Chris said the word, and then we would be free to begin our new lives together. But I knew that a confrontation would ensue with my parents once they found out about our plans.

I was down at the lake with Chris next to our tree house. I sat on the dock, my legs swinging over the edge, staring into my hands as I thought about how to break the news to my parents. Chris was swimming in the water, enjoying himself, getting his exercise by doing laps of the small lake.

I was so consumed with my thoughts that I didn't hear Chris swim over to the dock, until he said my name a few times.

"Hmm," I mumbled, surfacing from my thoughts and looking down at him.

"What's up, babe?" he asked, clutching the dock on either side of my legs.

"I've got a problem," I revealed after a moment. He cocked his head and listened intently. "I don't now how I'm gonna tell my folks about us leaving…."

His eyes widened. Immediately, he pulled himself out of the water and settled himself next to me. "I can see why you're worried," he said, running his hand through his wet hair. His toned body gleamed in the sunlight from the water dripping down. He seemed to be oblivious to my observations as he stared out across the lake. "Well, in the end, you have to do what's best for you. They can't hold you forever."

"I know," I replied. "It's just that…." I trailed off, not sure how to put my next thought into a sentence.

"It's just that they hate me." He finished my sentence for me.

I nodded reluctantly. "But you know that I don't care what they think about us. I don't care what they think about you, or your reputation. I know the real you and that's all that matters."

"Then why are you so worried about telling them that you want to be with me forever?" he asked me, twining his fingers with mine. "Why does it bother you what they'll think of us moving away together?"

I looked at him, stunned. I had never thought of it like that. And I realized that he was right. I shouldn't care what they would think. I never did before.

Suddenly, a grin spread across his face. "And, on that subject, I have some news for you. My aunt Donna called me last night and told me that they have a place lined up for us. If we go to Massachusetts in the next few days, we can take a look and if we like it, we can have the place."

I shrieked with excitement. "Are you serious?!"

Nodding, Chris said with a laugh, "Yes, babe, I am serious. It's not ours, but Aunt Donna said we could stay with her and her daughter until we get everything sorted with the house."

"Oh my God! That's great!" I breathed. Now, my journey with Chris could truly begin. I think I was on the verge of crying with happiness. I could feel my eyes brimming with tears.

Chris noticed. Chuckling, he cupped my cheek. "Why are you crying?"

I laughed. "Because I'm happy." I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I leant forward and fiercely claimed his lips on mine. He kissed me back eagerly.

After a few moments, I broke off. "So, when are we leaving?"

"Well, we'll need a couple of days to pack, so I was thinking Friday morning," he replied, a little distracted, like he was trying to find my lips so we could return to the kissing. I put him out of his misery, and kissed him again, but broke off again after a few more seconds.

"It's gonna be World War Three when I tell them tonight," I said quietly.

Chris looked at me with concern. "Do you want me to be there, so we can tell them together?"

I shook my head. "Thanks, but no thanks. I think it'll only make matters worse if you were there. I'll handle it myself."

"You sure?"

I nodded my head.

"Okay then," he conceded, admitting defeat. He looked out at the water and gestured too it, grinning cheekily. "How about it? Wanna go for a swim?"

I shook my head, smiling. "I'm okay, sweetie."

"Aww, come on!" he protested.

I laughed. "No, really I'm a little tired."

He gave me a look. "You better not be doing that thing that you did in the junkyard last year." He joked.

For a minute, I didn't know what he was on about, and then I laughed as I remembered when I tricked Chris so I could win a race against him over a year ago. Back then, Chris and I were just friends. It amazed me how much had changed in just a year.

"No, I'm not trying to trick you," I reassured him.

"Please come in," he whined jokingly, jutting out his bottom lip. "Please, honey."

I laughed. "No, really, I'm fine!"

A cheeky look came across his face. "If you don't come in with me, I'll just have to make you."

I stood up in mock outrage. "You wouldn't!"

He stood up with me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me to him. He brought his face to mine and replied quietly, "Oh, I would."

He began to bring his face closer. In a reflex, I raised my head to his. However, I noticed a grin come over his face as he dropped down into the water with me caged in his arms. I screamed as we crashed into the water. Chris had let go of me once we were under, so I was able to resurface easily.

Chris resurfaced not long after, laughing. I glared playfully at him, and then swam over to where he was. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his middle and hoisted myself up so my head was slightly higher than his. I pressed myself up against his body. One of his hands snaked around my thigh, supporting my weight, and the other one rested on the small of my back. His head was lifted up towards mine, his face lighted by his laughter.

"You're so evil, you know that?"

Chris shrugged playfully. "That's why you love me."

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"Mum, Dad," I called as I opened the door and stepped inside my house a few hours later.

"In here, Georgie," my mother called from the kitchen. I walked across the living room and into the kitchen. My mother was preparing dinner at the counter while my father was sitting at the table, reading what looked like the local newspaper. My dad raised his eyes when I walked into the room.

"Where the hell have you been?" he shot at me.

"Swimming," I replied back just as sharply.

"Georgie," my mother warned me. "What have we said about your attitude?"

"Whatever." I sighed. "Look, I have something I have to tell you, and you're probably not gonna like it."

My parents' eyes were ne me in an instant. I shifted uneasily on the spot, unsure of how to begin.

"I'm moving out…"

My mother's reaction was, "Oh, Georgie, that's great!"

Nothing from my father.

"…with Chris." I finished.

There was silence. Then, suddenly, my father went ballistic. He slammed the paper on the table and stood up. "Right, that is it! I've let you associate with that boy for long enough! I've let you be friends with him, I've let him court you, but this is the last straw! I will not stand by and let you move in with him!"

"Why!" I screamed back at him. "Why won't you let us be?"

"Because he is not going anywhere! His father and brother are drunks and he is exactly the same! I will not let you be dragged down with him!"

"You are unbelievable! You really are! In case you haven't noticed, Chris is nothing like his family! He is kind and caring, and he is going places! He graduated with honors, Dad! Honors! He's got a place at Harvard Law School! How dare you stand there and say that he is not going anywhere!"

My mother looked on the verge of tears. I knew she hated conflict within her family unit. I was sure that she was used to it because of the amount of time that me and my father had fought. On the other hand, we had never fought on this scale before.

My father was furious. I could read it on his face and in his eyes.

"You can't just accept that I'm happy," my voice was lower but full of venom. "You wish that God had taken me, not Denny, don't you, Dad?"

He didn't answer.

"I never felt happy here. The only person I ever felt happy with was Denny. He was the only person who actually cared for me in this family. You were both so concerned with him that you never gave a second glance to me. I was content to be here with my brother. But then he died, and I had no one. The only person who truly cared for me was Chris. I relied on him, and he didn't care. You know why? Because he loves me. Which is more than I can say for you."

Tears were streaming down my mother's cheeks. My father looked like he was about to explode with anger.

"I don't care what you say!" my voice rising again. "I am moving away with Chris in two days. We're getting out of here. We're moving to Massachusetts, and you can't stop us!"

My mother gasped. "Massachusetts! But that's all the way on the other side of the country!"

"Yeah well, the further away the better," I replied icily.

"You wanna leave with that trash? Then go." My father said angrily. I looked at him. He was fuming. "Pack your things and get out. GET OUT!" he yelled at the top of his voice.

Tears in my eyes, I turned and ran out of the kitchen, up the stairs and into my room. I grabbed the suitcase under the bed, threw it open on the bed and ran around my room, opening drawers and cupboards, flinging my clothes into the open bag. My sobs were violent in my chest and the tears flowed freely. I knew my parents would never forgive me after this. There would be no turning back. All I knew was that I had to get to Chris. Once I was in his arms everything would be okay.

Once all my clothes were packed and my bag was zipped, I grabbed it and flew out of my room, still sobbing violently. I raced past my parents; my mother sobbing and my father cold as stone, wrenched the front door open and stepped out onto the porch. I dropped the bag and leant on the railing, needing the support. I stood, hunched for a few moments by myself, until I felt two big, strong arms wrap around my waist. I jumped in fright, but realized that it was Chris. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. I could tell by the way he held me. I felt his head rest on my shoulder as he said, "Sweetheart, I'm so sorry."

"What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be home."

"I didn't. I stayed at the lake for a little while, but I was worried about you. I knew this couldn't end well, so I thought I'd come, just in case you needed me. Guess it was lucky that I did. Look at you." He turned me around to face him. He wiped my tears away. "Sshh," he whispered, as I continued to sob. "I'm here, baby. Its okay."

He kissed my forehead and hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around his middle, an I instantly began to settle down.

Once I had stopped crying, he pulled back. "You okay"

I nodded weakly. "How much did you hear?' my voice was thick from the tears.

"Pretty much the whole thing. I was up on the porch when your dad started screaming at you."

"I'm sorry you had to hear that."

"It's okay, babe. You can't help that. You did what you had to do."

I nodded again. "Where will I go though?"

Chris looked outraged. "You think I would let you wander by yourself for a few days? No. We'll stay up in the tree house until we have to go. My dad kicked me out once I told him I was moving away, so we can't stay at my place. Anyway, even if we could I wouldn't have you over there with my asshole of a father."

I looked at him in surprise. "When did you get kicked out?"

"Last night."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you. I've stayed up at the tree house last night. We can do the same thing until we go."

"Okay," I agreed. "I mean, what else have we got?"

With that I grabbed my keys and we jumped into my car. We drove over to the tree house, where I found Chris' car parked near the shade of the tree. When we climbed up the ladder like we had all those times before, there was the old makeshift mattress that had always been up here, a suitcase with all his clothes, a cooler filled with ice and drinks and assorted foods. This would be our temporary home for a couple of days until we would leave this place for good and start fresh with each other.


	21. A Welcome Change

It took us just over a week to make it to Massachusetts by car. I drove mine and Chris drove his car, but at night we would pull over and we would sleep together in one of our cars. The whole journey was uncomfortable and long, but I was content because I was with Chris. I didn't matter where I was, as long as he was with me, I could do anything.

Chris told me that his aunt lived in a small town named Fielding, which was twenty minutes away from Harvard Law School. Apparently, his aunt owned a real estate that had the perfect little apartment for us. We would be staying with her and her daughter, Sophie, while we got everything sorted with our own place and then we would be free to move in after that.

We pulled up outside Donna's house. I gasped. It was so picturesque. It was a cute little red-brick house with a beautifully kept garden containing roses, lavenders and lilacs. There was a neat stone path leading through the garden all the way to the front porch. I opened my car door, stepped out, closed the door gently and leant against the car, breathing in the scent. It was unfamiliar, but it already began to feel like home. It was somewhere that I felt I could belong to.

Chris was at my side then. He wrapped one of his arms around my waist and smiled down at me. "What do you think?"

"I think this place is beautiful," I replied. "I could really get used to living here."

"That's the idea."

We began to make our way up to the house. "So how is your aunt related to you?"

He smirked. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Ha ha," I replied and I poked my tongue out at him. He winked back at me.

"I know what you meant," he continued. "Aunt Donna is my father's younger sister. She distanced herself from my dad because she didn't approve of the way he treated me and my brother. You know, when he used to get drunk and…." He trailed off.

I grabbed his hand in reassurance.

"Anyway, she never really spoke to my father in about five years. She has a daughter named Sophie, who is a year younger than us."

"Are you close?"

"Yeah, we were, once upon a time. But we didn't get to see each other a lot, you know, after Donna left."

I nodded understandingly. Chris bent over to the side and plucked a rose from the garden and handed it to me, and gave me an irresistible smile. "This is for you."

I took it from his hands, and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Thank you."

He smiled wide, grabbed my hand and led me up to the door. He rapped on the door twice, and while we waited, I looked at my refection in the window and smoothed out my hair and straightened my clothes. I wanted to look my best. Chris noticed my fidgeting, smiled and bent down to kiss me just under my jaw line. "You look beautiful. Stop fidgeting."

Just as he said this, the door flew open and a woman with long blonde hair answered. She looked to be in her mid thirties. She had green, welcoming eyes. Her hand flew to her mouth as she gazed at her nephew. She looked like she was about to cry with happiness. "Christopher?" she breathed in disbelief.

Chris smiled nervously. "Hey, Aunty Donna."

She cried out and flung her arms around his neck. "Oh, Chris! My little Chris!" she pulled away. "Well, you're not so little anymore! You're all grown up, and not to mention, very handsome."

Chris smiled bashfully. I smiled at Donna. She seemed to be a genuinely friendly lady. Much different than Chris' dad. It was hard to believe that they were blood related. Chris' aunt turned her eyes towards me.

"And who is this?"

"This is my girlfriend," Chris gazed proudly down at me.

Donna smiled. "So you must be Georgiana? Chris had told me a lot about you."

"I've heard a bit about you, too," I replied, smiling at her. I couldn't help it. She was just so friendly. A welcome change. I held out my hand to her. "I'm Georgie."

She shook my hand. "I'm Chris' aunt. But you already knew that."

I smiled at her. Suddenly, she had her arms around me and was hugging me tightly. I was a bit taken aback at first, but then I hugged her back. She pulled away after a moment. "It's lovely to meet you, dear."

"Yeah, you too."

"Well, come in," Donna said, ushering us through the door. "You two must be exhausted! Travelling all this way!"

"Yeah, my arms feel quite stiff from sitting still all that time," Chris said. "Where's Sophie?"

Donna was about to answer, but a scream of excitement came from the top of the stairs. I spun around to see an incredibly beautiful girl standing the top of the staircase. Her long, wavy blonde hair cascaded down her back. Her blue eyes, identical to Chris', sparkled with untamed excitement.

"CHRIS!" She squealed as she ran down the stairs. She was followed by a tall, brunette guy who lingered where she was standing.

Chris laughed. "Hey, Soph!" She ran into his arms and hugged him tightly around the middle. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and they embraced like that for a minute or so.

Sophie pulled away. "Oh my God! I can't believe you're finally here! My favourite cousin in the whole world!"

Chris laughed. "Glad to hear. Sophie, I want to introduce you to someone." He detangled himself from his cousin's arms and went to me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and said in a tender voice, "This is my Georgie."

"Hi!" Sophie said, coming over to us and wrapping me in a hug. Again, I was surprised by their unabridged emotion to a stranger. Chris was positively glowing with happiness. Sophie pulled back. "I'm Sophie. It's so nice to meet you. Chris," she turned to him, "you never said how gorgeous she is."

I blushed. Chris laughed. "Well, I guess I wanted you guys to see for yourself."

Sophie smiled and turned toward the stairs, her hand still on my hip. "Rick!" she cried. "Come down and meet my cousin and his gorgeous girlfriend." I blushed even harder at her words.

The guy at the foot of the stairs came down. He had dark brown hair and dark eyes. He was almost as tall as Chris was. He smiled shyly.

"This is my boyfriend, Rick." She said, wrapping her arm around his waist

"Hi," he muttered.

Chris smiled and held out his hand. "I'm Chris, Soph's cousin."

Rick shook his hand. "Rick."

"Nice to meet you," I added.

"Where's Annie?" Donna asked her daughter.

"Annie?" I asked. "Another relative?"

Sophie laughed. "No, no. Annie's my friend. We're gonna go and pick her up and hang out around town. You wanna come," she asked us.

Chris smiled. "Nah, that's okay. I think we might just hang round here for a bit. Relax a bit, you know."

She hugged us again, lingering on me a little more, I noticed. She hugged her mother fiercely and ran out the door with Rick behind her.

**A/N: hey guys, hope you're enjoying the story. Just letting you know, I will be starting a few new stories soon, so if you like Harry Potter or Twilight, keep an eye out for my Penname for these stories! Thanks so much for being so supportive of my story!!**


	22. Drive Me Wild

After Sophie and Rick had left, we sat down with Donna. Chris was so eager to catch up on all the missed years. It made me so happy to see him in a place where he felt comfortable, accepted. I felt the same way, too. I never thought that a person could truly feel loved by another until I had met Chris and his Aunt Donna. After spending an afternoon with this woman, I was able to feel truly confident that Chris and I would be able to start a fresh.

Once Chris and his aunt had finally finished catching up, they moved on to the subject of Chris and mine's new house.

"I won't tell you all about it. You can have a look at it yourself," Donna told us. "But I can tell you that the place is beautiful, and it's big enough and comfortable enough for the two of you."

"Sounds perfect," I smiled.

She smiled back. "It is, believe me. The rent is cheap, really affordable, only $100 a month. It's within walking distance of the local shopping complex and, for you Chris; it's a close drive to Harvard. Everything you need in a first home."

Chris was trying to suppress a chuckle. "Aunt Donna, just thought I'd warn you. You're starting to sound like a professional, not like my aunt. You don't have to convince us, we're gonna take the house either way. We came from across the country to get here."

Donna smiled. "Yes, thank you, Christopher," she replied sarcastically.

Chris gave a quick, over exaggerated smile.

Donna rolled her eyes playfully. "Well, I think we should get you settled in, hey?" She stood up from the table, and Chris and I rose with her. We followed her up the stairs to a small room that consisted of a double bed, a large chest of drawers and a cupboard.

"This is it," Donna exclaimed, gesturing to the room.

Chris and I walked in, taking in the small room. "This is lovely," I turned to Donna. "Thank you, Mrs. Sherman."

She crossed the room with a huge smile. "You are quite welcome, sweetheart." She took my hands in hers. "And, please, call me Donna. There's no need for this Mrs. Sherman business. We're practically family, now anyway." I smiled warmly at her kind words.

She smiled back cheekily. She let go of my hand. "I'll leave you to it then." As she reached the door, she turned back around. "Plus, it makes me seem so old when you call me by my last name, Georgie."

I laughed at her remark, and she winked at me. With that, she disappeared.

Suddenly, I felt two arms wrap securely around my waist. Immediately, I felt Chris breath tickle my ear as he spoke quietly into it. "Donna and Soph really like you."

"I really like them," I replied, leaning back into his chest. I sighed contently.

He squeezed me gently. "What's up?"

"This is all so perfect. Your family is just so kind and welcoming, and your aunt already considers me apart of her family. It's incredible! I didn't think that moving away from home would be so…so…" I couldn't find the appropriate word to describe how I was feeling. There were no words.

"Hey," Chris said gently. I turned in his arms to face him and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I know completely how you feel. I never could have imagined how smooth this transition has been. It's absolutely perfect. And let me tell you now, I have no regrets whatsoever. It's all about us now, okay?"

I smiled at him. "Okay, deal."

He planted a light kiss on my lips. "That's my girl. I'm gonna go get the bags from the cars, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll be right back." He planted another quick kiss on my lips before leaving the room, with the car keys in hand.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chris bought the rest of the bags up into our temporary room, and soon we were settled in. That night, we had a delicious dinner with Donna, Sophie and Rick. The night was filled with laughter and gossip. At the end of the night, I felt so comfortable in Donna and Sophie's home; it felt like I had known them for years. I actually felt truly happy for the first time in a long time.

Later, I flopped down on the bed, exhausted. I was filled to brim with food and I had laughed all night with Chris and his family, therefore I was feeling particularly drowsy. All I wanted was to sleep. But it appeared that Chris had other ideas.

He closed the door quietly, and then crawled onto the bed until his body has hovering over mine. "What are you doing?" he asked playfully.

I smiled slightly and kept my eyes closed. "Trying to sleep, sweetie. What does it look like?"

I heard him chuckle, then felt his lips caressing my throat gently. I groaned, and then smiled again.

"Aw, Chris, why do you do this to me?" I asked him playfully.

"Because it's fun," he replied against my throat. He continued to trail kisses up my neck, my jaw, my cheek, and finally my lips. When his lips met mine, I surrendered with a small moan. At my noise, he kissed me harder, and his tongue trailed the edge of my lips, begging entry to my mouth, so I obliged. The kiss deepened as our tongues met. In a fit of passion, I wrapped my legs around Chris' waist as he brought his body down further.

Chris kissed me more passionately as he wrapped his arms around my middle and pulled me up to him as he sat us up vertically on the bed. I fumbled with the hem of his shirt, and we broke the kiss, panting slightly as I pulled his shirt up over his head and flung it to the end of the bed. As soon as the shirt disappeared, Chris attacked my mouth again, and resumed where the kiss left off. In his distraction with my lips, I managed to push him onto his back, so that this time, I was on top of him. I broke the kiss again, and began to kiss his neck, his collarbone, his bare chest, and then proceeded down his body, kissing his abdominals until I reached the top of his pants. His moans gave evidence to the fact that he wanted this to go further. I smiled, and then returned to his lips. His eyes widened in surprise, but after a second, he cupped my neck with his hand as he returned my kiss.

After a moment, he whispered against my lips, "You're a tease, you know that?"

"Mmm," was my reply. I couldn't use words; I was too interested in his kiss. Sometimes, I felt like I was in another time when we kissed. The whole world melted away and my new world in that moment was Chris. Everything about him drove me wild, and I could tell that Chris felt the same way about me.

He rolled me gently back onto my back and pressed his body back up next to mine, but still making sure that his weight did not crush me. Soon, he was undoing the buttons on my blouse. One button was undone, then two, three. Soon, all the buttons had been undone, and Chris trailed kisses all over my exposed torso, whilst his hand was slowly traveling up my thigh. Just as his hand made it under my skirt, there was a knock at the door.

Chris and I froze. We looked at each other in horror. I knew we were both thinking the same thing. Had we been too loud?

The person knocked again, and Donna's voice floated from behind the closed door. "Chris? Georgie?"

With a small sigh, Chris jumped off the bed and headed to the door. I laid my head back, with my blouse still unbuttoned, catching my breath. I watched as Chris opened the door slightly so that he could put his head through the door and speak to his aunt without her having to see me with my shirt unbuttoned, looking indecent.

"I'm off to bed," Donna told Chris. "I'll be taking you to the house tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, sure. Thanks, Aunt Donna."

"Goodnight, Chris."

He nodded. I heard Donna call, "Goodnight, Georgie!"

I got up off the bed. "Goodnight, Donna!" I called back.

I wriggled out of my skirt and slid my shirt off my shoulders. I noticed that Chris had closed the door and was watching me with lust in his eyes. Smiling to myself, I climbed under the covers of the bed in my bra and underwear. Chris climbed out of his jeans and climbed in next to me. Wriggling close to me, he slid his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him. I snuggled into his chest, feeling comfortable in his warm embrace. I shivered slightly as his hand stroked my back gently.

I felt his voice rumble in his chest as he laughed. "Do you realize how close we were to making love before? If Aunt Donna hadn't knocked on the door, I'm sure one thing would have led to another…."

I giggled. "Yeah, you're right. I don't see the big deal though. It's not like we haven't had sex before."

He chuckled. With one hand, he cupped my chin and made me look at his face. "Well," he whispered in my ear in a low, seductive voice that sent butterflies fluttering in my stomach, "if you don't think it was a big deal, then why don't we pick up where we left off, and see if one leads to another?"

I giggled again. "As tempting as that sounds, I don't think we should let one thing lead to another while we're staying at your aunt's house. It's not appropriate."

I felt the tip of his nose stroke my jaw line and back up to my ear. In the same voice, he replied in my ear again, "Aw, come on baby. We'll be quiet." I felt him nibble on my ear for a few seconds.

I sighed in pleasure. I was close to giving in, but I was determined to stay strong. "No," I stammered out, forcing the words out. "As much as I don't like to say it, the answer has to be no."

His head lifted, and he had a confused look on his face.

"I just don't feel comfortable making love when you're aunt and your cousin are in the other rooms. I'd rather it be just the two of us, alone, in our own space."

Chris nodded his head in understanding, but he looked slightly crestfallen. I rushed to explain myself.

"I'm not saying that we will never have sex, just not now, not in this place."

Chris kissed me to stop my flow of words. He kept kissing me until I felt myself melt into his arms. My hand found its way to the back of his neck and my fingers wrapped themselves into his hair. After a few minutes, he pulled away.

"I get it, honey. Not now. Not here. It's fine."

"Are you sure?"

He smiled and kissed me gently. "Yes, I am. But I have an idea of how to christen our new home once we move in."

I looked at him questioningly. He grinned mischievously and wriggled his eyebrows at me.

"Oh!" I replied, catching on. "Absolutely, babe! Perfect way to christen it."

With that, he kissed me fiercely. I melted back into him and we continued to kiss well into the night.


	23. Irresistable

I woke the next morning with bright sunlight shining in my eyes. I groaned in protest and snuggled closer in Chris' chest. I heard him mumble in his sleep and his arms tightened around me. I closed my eyes, sighing in contentment. We lay there for what seemed like a perfect eternity, but then I realized we had a big day ahead of us. I reluctantly lifted my head from my boyfriend's chest, and smiled as I saw his peaceful, dreaming his face. His features were awash of any of the troubles he had faced during his life. I didn't want to wake him. It took all of my strength to whisper, "Chris?" I nudged him slightly.

He mumbled again.

Smiled, knowing he was half-awake. "Chris," I whispered again, planting a few light kisses on his lips. I knew I had his attention as his lips began moving with mine.

I pulled away briefly. "Time to get up, baby."

He shook his head with his eyes still closed. "No," he protested quietly.

I laughed lightly. "Yes, it is." I leant down and kissed him lightly again. "Come on."

He smiled against my lips. His hand travelled behind my neck as he kissed me back.

I pulled away again. This time, he opened his blue eyes. They sparkled warmly at me. "Fine, you win. I'm up!"

I laughed and jumped out of bed. I grabbed clothes from my suitcase and flew to the bathroom. Gladly, it was unoccupied. I took a warm shower, which relaxed me further. After fifteen minutes, I surfaced from the shower, dried myself and pulled my clothes on. I was drying the ends of my sopping hair with my towel when I heard a loud knock on the door.

"Baby!" I heard Chris' muffled voice from the other side of the door. "Are you decent?"

"Yeah!" I called back, smiling.

The door opened and Chris stepped in, topless with a pair of his favourite faded denim jeans on, a fresh towel in one hand, and a fresh pair of jeans in the other. He dropped the clothes and the towel on the floor and closed the distance between us in one long stride. He grinned as he picked me up and sat me on the bathroom counter. His hands remained at my hips as he smirked at me cheekily.

"You left way too early before," he began in a light, teasing voice.

"Well, didn't you say just last night that I was a tease?" I joked back, just as light-hearted.

Chris thought for a second. "So I did. Well, it remains as true now as it was just now."

Laughing, I leant forward and kissed him lightly. He returned the kiss, but not urgently like he usually would.

Suddenly, we heard a laugh from the frame of the bathroom door. "Cut it out you two!"

We broke our kiss and looked at the door. It was Sophie, still in her pajamas, her hair a mess. She had obviously just gotten up. Her face was alight with laughter.

Chris winked at his cousin. "Would if I could, but she's just too hot to resist."

I blushed and smacked his shoulder lightly. He and Sophie laughed harder at this.

"Aw, Georgie, don't be embarrassed!" Sophie smiled at her. She winked in at us and said, "Carry on." With that, she left.

Chris turned back to me, eyes sparkling with laughter. He planted a lingering but passionate kiss on my lips. When he pulled away, I jumped off the bathroom counter. "You should get ready," I said, placing both my hands on his defined chest. All those years of working in the shop classes and working on his car in his spare time had toned his body incredibly over the years. I noticed my mind was wandering, so I forced myself to think about what I was going to say next. "We have a big day ahead of us, so have a shower, get dressed, and then come down and have some breakfast."

"Yes ma'am!" he replied, with a mock salute.

I laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "I've got you so well trained."

He beamed at me. I let him go and began to walk to the door, but I felt Chris give me a quick smack on my butt. I jumped and squealed as I turned back to him. He smirked and I poked my tongue out at him playfully in return.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After breakfast was served, we jumped into Chris' car and followed Donna to our new home. It turned out that it was only a few streets away from Donna's place. It was a small little unit apartment with a small garden out the front.

We all clambered inside. The place seemed perfect. There was a bathroom, two bedrooms, a small kitchen, a laundry, and a small piece of backyard. I fell in love with the place instantly, so Chris and I signed the papers that Donna had brought with her. Soon, the house was officially in our name.

Over the next few days, we had everything sorted with the house. We had all the furniture moved in and we were set to move in. Chris and I would share a room and bed. We had our bed moved in along with a chest of drawers. The kitchen was set with everything we would need. The spare room had been set up with two desks; one set up for me so I could do my writing, and the other for Chris for when he started his study in a few months. We had everything we would need.

"My God!" I exclaimed as I flopped down on our sofa, exhausted from all the moving. "If I have to move another muscle, I swear I'm going to die!"

Chris laughed as he fell down next to me. His forehead was even sweating, showing no signs that he actually had done any work. "Then let me help you then." He scooped me up in his arms and placed me on his lap. His arms wrapped securely around my waist and nestled his head in the crook of my neck. I sighed as I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close.

"We did it," he breathed. "We actually did it!"

I kissed the top of his head and buried my face in it. "It feels so surreal. All I know is I'm so happy."

He turned his head up to mine, and cupped my cheek in his hand. "I know, sweetheart. So am I."

He leaned in and kissed me sweetly. After a few moments, I leaned back and whispered

against his lips, "Hey, remember a few nights ago. How we promised we would christen

this place?" He looked me in the eye questioningly. He understood the mischievous look

in my eye. He smiled widely, and lifted me up in his arms, bridal-style, and claimed my

lips fiercely in his.

With that he carried me off to our new bedroom and we never stepped out until the next

morning.

**A/N: hey guys, sorry this chapter has taken so long to be posted, I've had so much **

**on my plate lately. Thanks so much for your patience and I hope you continue to **

**enjoy my story. Just letting you know that I have posted a new story. It's called **

'**Sacrifice'. It's a Chronicles of Narnia story, so if you're interested, have a read of it **

**and comment. I would like to thank JainaZekk621, XxBeckiixX, spanderfan, **

**SexySadie88, Smartass Joker, emoloverSHINEDOWN, S.A.M Fonceca, **

**HermioneandMarcus**, **StrawberryTenTen, jezzlovescherrypez, hell's lil angel13 and **

**justdr34m for all their great comments!! Thank you so much guys!! It means a great **

**deal to me!!! I will update again as soon as possible!!! **


	24. Eyeing Her Up

As the new academic year approached, things got pretty hectic for Chris. He was continually driving to and from Harvard, organizing his course and gathering everything he would need, like textbooks and such. I, myself, was starting to write again. It seemed so long since I had written, and once I had begun my new story, it felt like a familiar place that I could lose myself in. Imagining a whole new place that I could completely control and come to life was exciting. I couldn't believe that I hadn't written sooner. Ever since the death of my older brother, I hadn't actually wrote a proper story, so it had been almost two years since I had felt the warm, familiar comfort of writing.

I write nearly everyday while Chris is busy at Harvard. My latest story is really coming along. It's a love story about two people who come together after they both experience a tragic event in their own lives. Their pain brings them together. To me, it seems like anybody could relate to it. It can happen to anyone. I decided that I like to write stories that people are able to relate to.

Chris and I have decided that once I finish each of my story, he would read it over. I didn't want him to originally, because I knew he would soon be busy with his study, but he insisted that he be my proof reader. So I conceded. It was sweet, him trying to find a way to help me with my story. He always wanted to be involved with my activities. It was one of the many things that made him a great boyfriend.

One day, I was in the middle of my story, when I heard a loud knock at the door. I jumped in fright. I was so absorbed in my writing that the loud noise had frightened me. It had happened many times before when Chris had come home from a busy day and came to greet me. I would be so far gone in my story that I hadn't even heard the front door open.

The knock came again, and I ran to the door and pulled it open in a rush. Standing on the threshold was a tall young man. He had brown hair that flopped down in front of his deep green eyes. He smiled openly at me.

"Hi," he said in a friendly, smiling voice.

"Hi," I replied. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I hope so," he replied, a hint of flirtation in his voice. "I'm Will. I live a few houses down the street. I would have come to visit you earlier, but I've been out of the country on a holiday."

"Oh ok," I replied, feeling a little uncomfortable under his meaningful gaze. I couldn't help but think that he was checking me out. It was too obvious by the look in his eyes. "Well, thanks for coming around. It's nice to meet you."

"Are you home by yourself?" he interrupted, coming closer to the door.

"Umm," I said, a little taken aback, "yeah, I am. My _boyfriend_," I emphasized the word to let him know that I was off limits, "is out for the afternoon. He's up at Harvard University for the day. He's starting there in about a month or so."

"Interesting," Will replied. "Can I come in?"

"Now isn't a good time. I'm in the middle of something at the moment, but by all means, come on over tomorrow."

Will smiled. "Okay. See you then." He looked at me questioningly. "You didn't give me your name."

"Oh! Sorry! My name's Georgie Lachance." I grinned at him.

"Well, see you tomorrow, Georgie" He winked at me in a seductive manner and walked off.

I closed the door behind me and sighed. This guy was obviously interested me, but I knew he was after a lost cause. He seemed unphased when I mentioned Chris, so I knew I was going to have to be careful so as not to lead Will on. What confused me was how he assumed that I lived here by myself. The only reason I could come up with was that whoever he lived with mustn't have mentioned that a guy lived here as well. I shook my head and went back to the study to continue my writing.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Much later that afternoon, I heard the front door open and Chris' voice call out, "I'm home!"

This time, I heard him. I practically ran to meet him and jumped into his arms. He laughed as he wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tightly. I felt him kiss the top of my head. "You heard me for once."

I laughed back with him. "I know. I guess I was waiting for you to come home."

He pulled back and looked at me in mock outrage. "Are you saying, my dear, that you weren't waiting for me all those other days?"

"Oh no, of course not," I relied, grinning cheekily.

He chuckled, and then lowered his face to mine and kissed me lightly. This time, I returned the kiss in an urgent manner. I felt Chris smile against my lips. "Wow, you really were waiting for me, weren't you?"

"Mmm hmm," I replied. "I…really…missed…you…I…love…you…so…much," I told him between kisses.

His reply was to kiss me back fiercely. After a few moments, we broke apart and unwrapped ourselves from each other.

"So, how was your day?" I asked, leading the way to the living room.

"Hectic," he replied. "I had to make sure that all my classes were in order and that I could track down all my textbooks and all that. I am exhausted!" He flopped down onto the couch.

"Well, I think you should have an early night, then," I said, settling myself into his lap.

"Thanks mum," he replied sarcastically. I poked my tongue out at him.

"No, you're right. I should. So, how was your day?"

"It was…interesting. I worked on my story for most of the day. And then, I had a visitor."

Chris sat up a little straighter. "Really? A visitor?"

"Yeah. A guy from down the street. He's name is Will."

Chris looked a little distressed. "And why was he visiting now? We've been here for a few months already."

"I know. Apparently, he's been out of the country and he only just got back recently." I didn't want to mention about the fact that Will had been eyeing me up. That would make Chris turn into an overly jealous monster. I didn't need him to feel insecure.

"He's coming over for a visit tomorrow."

"Oh well, have fun," Chris replied, a little detached. "I'm gonna be out all day. Last minute stuff, you know."

"Okay. I'm going to miss you," I relied, whispering in his ear.

Finally, he grinned and kissed me lightly. I could tell that he was fine after that. He was back to his old happy self.

"You hungry?" I asked.

"Starved," he grinned widely.

"'Kay. Come on then. Dinner's up."

We got up off the lounge and went to eat our dinner. The entire night was perfect. Chris didn't seem like the jealous monster he was before.

**A/N: So, what did you guys think about the new character? I don't know if I will make him permanent for awhile. What do you think will be Will's role in further chapters? Any ideas would be great!! Hope you guys are enjoying!**


	25. Life Imitating Art

**A/N: Hey guys I am SO SORRY that I haven't updated this story in forever! I have no excuse! But I absolutely promise I will get back into it more regularly. Thanks for all the great reviews from the Chris/Georgie lovers! And thanks for all your patience! I hope this lives up to all your expectations! So here we go!**

A loud knock resounded at the door. I looked at the door in confusion. I wondered in frustration at who could be at the door. I was busy writing, and the knock had, once again, interrupted my writing. My story was coming along quite well, almost complete. The couple in my writing had just hit a major obstacle and things weren't too peachy for them at the moment.

Sighing in frustration, I put my pen down and reluctantly left my fictional couple for a moment. Walking to the big oak door, I was glad that Chris and I weren't having any major problems like that at the moment.

Grasping the door knob, I opened the door slowly. I smiled slightly as I saw Will standing on the doorstep. "Hey, Will. What are you doing here?"

Standing on the threshold, I could feel the heat wave from outside. It was one of those really hot summer days outside. I never did well in the heat, so I always lock myself inside, and lose myself in my fictional world. It was perfect for me.

Will smiled at me, seeming unaffected by the ridiculously hot climate outside, dressed in board shorts and a white T-shirt. He had two brown paper bags in his hands, which he held up near his face and gestured too.

"Lunch?" he asked me, his wide smile revealing his impeccably white teeth.

When he mentioned the word lunch, only did I realize then how damn hungry I was. "Uh yeah, I'm actually kind of hungry"

"Figured," Will laughed. I smiled back at him and stepped out of the doorway to let him through. When he was inside the cool interior of my house and I had closed the door, he turned to me. "It's hot outside and you were nowhere to be seen, so I put two and two together."

I looked at him quizzically. Grinning, his gestured to the open office door where my writing lay abandoned, waiting for me to resume the story.

"Ah, yes, you figured I would be cooped up here, writing away," I smiled back at him. "You were spot on!"

Will chuckled and led the way to the kitchen. "Well, Georgie my dear, in the three months that I have known you, that is generally what you tend to do on days like this."

'Ha ha," I replied. I grabbed one of the brown bags. "So what's on the menu?"

"Bacon cheeseburgers, and for your refreshment pleasure, a can of Coca Cola," Will said as I fished through one of the bags.

"Oh yum! My favourite!" I turned to Will, one hand inside the bag. "You're awesome."

Will grinned at me. "It's been said."

I grinned in response and continued my fishing through my bag. I found the greasy food, unwrapped it, and took a mighty bite out of the cheeseburger. The delicious combination of grease, crispy bacon and cheese made my mouth water. I moaned in pleasure.

"Oh my god, this is so good!" I announced, my voice slightly muffled by the food.

"I'm glad," Will replied. He glanced around, and after a second, asked me, "Is Chris in?"

I shook my head and swallowed my mouthful of food. "No, he's got classes today. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," he said, a little too quickly in my opinion. But I took no further notice and continued to devour my burger.

"So how's the story going?" Will asked as he began to eat into his burger.

"Not bad. My couple has just hit an obstacle in their relationship. The guy caught his girl cheating on him, and she is trying to convince him that it meant nothing to her, that the other guy forced himself on her."

"Interesting," Will had a contemplative look on his face. "Can I read it?"

"Uh, I'm flattered that you want to read it, but it's not quite ready for proof reading yet. Maybe when it's ready?"

Will smiled mischievously. "Okay, no worries. I hope I will get a chance to read it."

"I'm sure you will," I smiled mischievously back.

Soon, we were chatting on the lounge, watching the television. Our banter seemed natural and easy. Will was a good guy at least that was my opinion of him. Until then.

There was a comfortable silence. I looked over at Will. He seemed deep in thought.

I nudged him with my elbow. "What are you thinking about?"

A small smile tugged at his lips. "You're story."

"What about it?"

"The couple. Has the girl ever been with someone other than her guy?"

"I…" I had no response. I had never thought of it before. To be honest, the couple was based on Chris and me. There was no need for the girl to have been with anyone else. The story focused on their love and their journey together.

Will looked at me expectantly.

"Well," I began, clearing my throat. "There was no need for her to have a romantic history. She found the one person who means everything to her, and she loves him with everything she has. What's to worry about?"

"But how does she know that he could be the one that means everything to her. How does she know that she truly loves him? She hasn't experienced love before him. To be honest, I think your girl should have stayed with the other guy. It gives her a chance to experience someone other than the one guy."

Somehow, my gut instinct told me that the conversation no longer applied to the story or my characters. I looked down at my hands. "What if she doesn't want to experience anything else but him?"

"Well, than that's awfully sad. She might look back on her life and think what might have been. And to be honest, that's reality. We all want something that we regret not taking when we had the chance."

I didn't say anything. I just looked at my hands. I was silently screaming at him, but also screaming at myself. Why wasn't I defending what Chris and I had, to convince Will that all I want, all I need is Chris? The fact that I wasn't defending us scared me to death. I wanted to, but couldn't bring myself to do it. Because I knew Will was right.

"You know I'm right," Will's voice was barely a whisper and his breath tickled my ear.

I felt angry. "Yes, you are, but that doesn't change the way I feel about Chris!" I turned my face up to meet his. His green eyes were way too close to my eyes.

His green eyes sparkled, seemingly happy to get a rise out of me. "I thought we were talking about your story?" He replied, feigning cheap innocence.

I scoffed. "Oh come on, I can see the way you feel about me. I saw it from Day One. We both know this isn't about my story."

"Your words, not mine," Will replied, still grinning like a mad man. He was winning the argument, and we both knew it. "And you admitted that being with someone else other than Chris is a good idea. So you must have a straying mind, because you didn't disagree."

"I don't have a straying mind," I argued helplessly, shifting away from him on the lounge. It didn't work; he just shifted back closer to me, until I was trapped against the arm rest with nowhere to run. Will was practically on top of me, leaning closer to my face.

"Let's test that theory, shall we?"

Before I could protest, his lips were on mine. The way he kissed me was not much different from Chris. It began soft and lingering, and then more urgent. Against my better judgement, I didn't fight back. It felt exactly like kissing Chris.

However, once Will's tongue began beg entry into my mouth, my brain started working. _What the hell am I doing?_

I shoved at his chest, and he stopped kissing me. "Whoa whoa whoa," I gasped, slipping out from under him. "Hold on there."

Will smiled evilly. "Like I said, you have a straying mind."

I shook my head stubbornly and backed away from him. He stood up from the couch and approached me slowly, like a lion stalking his prey.

Suddenly, my back was up against the wall. I couldn't go anywhere. Will found his opportunity. He pounced forward and pinned my hands above my head. I tried to wriggle free, but he had me trapped. He put his knee between my legs and leaned his face in close to mine.

"Don't fight me Georgie," he whispered seductively. "It's okay to feel like this."

"I don't feel like anything, except anger," I spat at him.

He laughed softly. That's what you want to think. But you do have some attraction towards me. Otherwise, you wouldn't have kissed me that way."

I turned my head, ashamed. He was right, he always was. But no matter what, all I wanted was Chris. Tears began to spring to my eyes. How did I get myself into this situation?

_Chris! Come home! _was all that would register.

I felt Will drag my chin back to his face. He kissed me again, with much more intent. I let him, I couldn't do anything to fight back, and he was too strong. One hand slid down my shoulders, the side of my torso and to my waist, whilst the other hand kept my hands firmly locked in place above my head. I felt the hand at my waist slide onto my thigh. I shivered at the contact. He snaked his hand around my thigh and hitched my leg up to his waist. Then his lips found my neck.

"Stop, Will," I whispered, though a slight moan had escaped my lips. I felt like slapping myself for letting that sound escape my lips.

"No way," he whispered into my neck. "Deep down, you don't want me to stop."

I was going to reply, but his feverish kisses on my neck continued, and soon his tongue was drawing little patterns on my shoulder blade. I felt the hand on my thigh move upwards.

Then suddenly, Will was thrown backwards and my hands were free. I had gotten my wish.

Chris was home.

"What the fuck is going on!" he roared, his features trapped in absolute fury.

I had no words. Chris looked at me, but he was still furious. I had never seen Chris look at me that way before.

Will, who had been thrown to the ground by Chris, got up off the floor and laughed. "Just showing her what's she's missing," he teased, a triumphant smirk on his face.

That set Chris off. And when Chris gets angry, he gets angry. He started laying into Will, punching every inch of him that he could reach. It was sickening to watch those loving tender hands being used for something so bad, so primeval.

I ran forwards and grabbed his arm. "Chris, that's enough!" I screamed.

He glanced at me and lowered his fist. He grabbed Will by the front of his bloodied shirt and shoved him outside the door.

"Never show your face here again, or I will kill you." His tone dripped with seriousness, and for a minute, I believed he would be capable of it.

He didn't give Will a chance to respond, he just slammed the door in his face. Then he turned to me.

"What the fuck happened?" he glowered at me.

I flinched. I had never seen Chris look at me in that way. I hated it, but I felt I deserved every bit of it.

"I…I don't know, we were just talking and then he threw himself onto me."

"And you didn't think to fight him off!"

The tears overflowed onto my cheeks. "I did! I tried! He was just too strong!"

"And your leg just happened to be hitched on his waist? Yeah, Georgie, it really seems like you were trying to fight him off!" His voice dripped with sarcasm. He just stared at me. He didn't even make a motion to comfort me, like he always did. This was entirely my fault.

I went to Chris, choking back sobs. "Chris, I'm so sorry. I swear that I didn't start any of it. I love you!"

I was clinging to his arms, but he just shrugged me away.

"I just can't believe you would do something like that," Chris said softly. He sounded defeated. He looked at me, and his blue eyes seemed watery.

"I didn't!" My voice was rising with anger. "Have you been listening to anything I've just said?"

Chris just walked away, into our bedroom. He pulled out a bag and began putting clothes into it.

I watched him from the doorway. "What are doing?"

"I can't stay here tonight," he said simply.

"What?" I said in disbelief.

He walked past me and headed towards the door. He grabbed his car keys and placed a hand on the door knob.

"Chris!" I cried. "Please don't go!" I forced him to look at me. His eyes were downcast; there was no emotion in them.

I grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him feverently. I was uplifted when I felt his lips moving in slight response to mine, but he didn't hold me to him like he would normally. His passion wasn't there anymore.

After a few seconds, he placed his hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me away from him. Shocked, I stepped back, stunned by the rejection. He just looked at me, said, "I'll call you," opened the door and disappeared into the night.

Then he was gone. I couldn't believe it. In one afternoon, my life was completely ruined. I had lost the one person I loved more than anything and he didn't seem to trust me anymore.

I collapsed to my knees, hugged my chest, too stunned to even cry.

Suddenly, my story came into my mind. It seemed like life was imitating art at the moment.

At that thought, reality hit and I cried, with no one to comfort me.

**A/N; How was that? Did it live up to your expectations? Reviews are appreciated!**


	26. Major Backfire

I couldn't sleep all night. I just lay in bed, curled up in a ball, thinking about Chris and crying my eyes out. I had resolved to go find him in the morning. This was the worst moment in my life. It was right up there with losing my brother Denny.

"What do I do, Denny?" I cried out loud. "How do I make things right?"

I imagined what he would say to me. _You just have to show him how much he means to you._

I would definitely be going to see Chris, and I wouldn't give up until I had convinced him that he could trust me.

I ran through Chris reaction in my mind. He was angry; there was no doubt about it. But then he seemed deflated, downcast. He honestly looked so hurt, and remembering that look had made my heart break even further. It made me upset to realize that I was the reason for this. I vowed that I would never make him feel like that again.

He had also said that he would call me. _That doesn't necessarily mean that we're over, _I assured myself. He didn't flat out say that he was breaking up with me, and when I kissed him, there was a small amount of response from him.

I knew he still loved me; I just needed to get his trust back.

Eventually, I finally managed to get to sleep.

However, when it seemed like I was just settled in for sleep, the loud sound of the phone ringing woke me.

I stumbled out of bed, and somehow found my way to the kitchen. The clock on the wall said it was 11:30pm.

I picked the phone up from the cradle and put it to my ear.

"Hello?" I said sleepily.

"_Georgie?_" It was Chris. His voice woke me immediately.

"Chris," I breathed. "Where are you? I'm so sorry! Please, please come home!" I ranted, the words spilling out of my mouth in a rush.

"_Calm down," _Chris replied. _"I'm fine. I'm so sorry for what happened last night. I miss you."_

My heart soared. "I miss you too. Come home, please."

"_I can't," _Chris replied.

"Why?"

"_I'm…kinda…in jail."_

"What! Jail? Why?" I cried into the phone.

"_Will pressed charges. I need you to come pay my bail."_

I nodded. "I'll be there in a few minutes. When I get you out, will you come home with me?"

"_You know I will. I hate being without you."_

I smiled into the phone. "I'm glad. I thought I had lost you. I was so scared."

"_You don't have to be."_

After a moment of silence, I said into the phone. "I'm on my way. I love you."

"_I love you too."_

I walked through the doors of Fielding Police Station, anxious to get to Chris. It was close to midnight as I walked up to the front counter.

The police officer sitting behind the desk looked up at me expectantly. "What can I do for you this evening?" He asked me brusquely.

"I'm here to pay my boyfriend's bail."

"Name?" He asked, consulting a list on his desk.

"Chris Chambers."

After a moment, the officer looked up at me. "Okay, so the bail sits at $200."

"Yeah that's fine," I handed him a wad of cash.

"Okay, follow me," he said after handing me my change.

I followed him impatiently. I couldn't wait to be back with Chris. I never wanted to fight again like we did yesterday. I wanted to show him how much I loved him.

I wanted to jump into his arms and never leave them.

Finally we arrived at his cell. "Chambers. Someone here to collect you."

Chris was sitting on the small bed next to the stone wall, his head in his hands. His eyes had snapped up at the sound of the guard's voice. He stood up quickly when he saw me over the guard's shoulder. I smiled a small smile at him. I got a small nervous smile in return.

The guard unlocked his cell and the grate slid open. I ran into the cell and straight into Chris' arms, burying my face in his shoulder. His arms were wrapped tightly around my waist, and I could feel his head buried into my hair. A single tear rolled don my cheek. Things seemed too good to be true.

After a minute or so, I heard the guard clear his throat, and I reluctantly pulled away from Chris, but kept my arms securely around his neck. I meant it when I said I never wanted to leave his arms again.

"Thanks for coming to get me," Chris said quietly. "I thought you wouldn't want to come, after last night." He looked very uncomfortable remembering what had happened.

I kissed him quickly. "Of course I'd come and get you. I'm so sorry for what happened."

He nodded. "Let's get home and we'll talk about it." I nodded as he took my hand firmly, and led me out of the cell.

We followed the seemingly annoyed officer back into the main lobby where I had come bursting through the doors. After Chris had filled out all of his release papers, we made our way home.

It was roughly 1:00am when we arrived back at our house.

I noticed something was missing. "Where's your car?"

"It's at Aunt Donna house. That's where I went after…you know…"

I nodded sadly. Watching me, quietly, Chris leaned across the passenger's seat and kissed me swiftly. My eyes closed peacefully at his touch. Pulling away after a few moments, Chris whispered, "Let's get inside."

He didn't have to ask me twice. We hopped out into the chilly night, and I practically danced, shivering to the front door. Putting the key in the lock, I turned the key and swung the door open.

We stepped inside shivering. Chris flicked the lights on and we went to sit on the couch.

There was a silence. It wasn't awkward but it wasn't comfortable either.

"Chris," I began, "I really am sorry. I hope you know that I didn't initiate anything that happened. I swear."

Chris reached over and took my hand firmly. "I know. It's okay."

I looked up at him, tears forming in my eyes. "You believe me?"

"Yes I do. I was really angry and upset by everything that happened, not to mention hurt. It felt like my heart was breaking. But when I thought about it, I found it hard to believe that you would willingly cheat on me. We've been through so much together, so I thought it would be stupid if we threw it all away over that."

My eyes widened. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to have this guy. I thought I had lost him forever, but he was willing to move on. He was even more amazing than I realized.

"Oh Chris," I sobbed as I flung my arms around his neck.

"But, I'll completely understand if you want to leave me. You now, if you realized that you wanted him instead of me." His voice was muffled by my hair, but I could tell that he was sad and trying to hold back tears.

I looked up at him. "Chris, I don't want anyone else but you. You're all I want. Don't ever think that I would want _him _after he physically attacked me. Like you said, we've been through too much and I wouldn't dream of letting you go. I'm too in love with you." I trailed off in my rant, emotionally drained.

Chris was watching me with soft eyes. After a second of indecision, he kissed me intensely. My heart soared as the old Chris returned. I felt every bit of his passion and love in his kiss, and I knew we would have no trouble on moving on from that unfortunate incident. If breaking us up was Will's intention, it certainly backfired.


End file.
